Team Avatar
by WoTee129
Summary: Avatar Min wakes up in a cave with no memory of how she got there and quickly meets a bizarre group of youths, who identify themselves collectively as "The Team." Min finds herself in a strange land among stranger people and is thrown into the middle of their war. Can she get home? Does she have a home to go back to? Rated T for intense action sequences and mature themes.
1. Author's Note

Hello, WoTee129 here. First of all, I just want to say that this entire section is completely optional to read and hopefully won't have an impact on your enjoyment of my work either way. Honestly, this is more for me. However, just below there is information on the setting of my story, which is useful.

Setting: Avatar Min comes from an era that is an unspecified amount of time before Aang is born. At this time, the Water Tribe hasn't split yet. Tensions are rising between factions within the Water Tribe, setting the stage for their split. Min is nearing the end of her Avatar Training at age seventeen. On Earth-16, it is six months after Vandal Savage took control of the Justice League. Basically, nothing has changed. The same eight members of the Team, as of Auld Acquaintances, are still the only members of the Team. No one has left yet.

I am a Senior in High School and an aspiring writer. This is actually my first major story. Obviously, then, I am looking for feedback, but more specifically, I had several goals in mind when I began this story and I want to know from you, the reader, if I achieved them or not. So, please, constructive criticism is welcomed.

One of my goals whenever I write any story is always to make it as realistic as possible, no matter how ridiculous the source material may be. Any indication on how I did here would be appreciated.

I am much more of a story-focused writer than a language-focused one, but I still would appreciate any comments or suggestions on the flow of my story and the language used. Like I said, before this I didn't do much writing, so I started off a little rough I think, but I also think that it gets better as you go along. That might just be me, though.

Finally, I made up the character Avatar Min myself, and I want to see if I portrayed her as I originally intended. In terms of her characterization, I did a lot more 'showing' than 'telling.' This is usually the better way to portray any character, but it can be tricky because you have to make sure the reader then actually understands your character the way you want them to. Below I will list the traits I originally intended Min to possess, and if anyone would just tell me if, after the first three chapters or whenever, I captured those traits in her, I would be very grateful.

-Min is fiercely independent, determined, and hot tempered to the point of being aggressive.

-She is strategically and intellectually brilliant.

-As a result of her independent nature and her own brilliance, she is something of a loner, though it doesn't immediately show in her character. In fact, this part of her character I am intentionally saving for later, to be revealed probably around chapters 7-10.

-Also something that doesn't show often is her insight and her wisdom. Like I said, this isn't too pronounced.

-As a result of her first three characteristics, she doesn't work well with others. This can lead to her appearing arrogant and overly proud. The thing is, because of her immense intellectual capacity, working solo usually works for her, so in fact what appears to be arrogance is really just practicality in her mind.

-She is also stunningly beautiful. I don't make dull characters.

-One trend that emerged with Min that I had not anticipated or meant to happen was the frequency with which she would freak out in the first couple of chapters. It's understandable considering her circumstances, but I wonder if I overdid it.

That about wraps it up. If you're still with me, thank you for staying with me. I appreciate any and all reviews.


	2. Orientations: Part One

**Setting:**** Avatar Min comes from an era that is an unspecified amount of time before Aang is born. At this time, the Water Tribe hasn't split yet. Tensions are rising between factions within the Water Tribe, setting the stage for their split. Min is nearing the end of her Avatar Training at age seventeen. On Earth-16, it is six months after Vandal Savage took control of the Justice League. Basically, nothing has changed. The same eight members of the Team, as of Auld Acquaintances, are still the only members of the Team. No one has left yet.**

Waking up was difficult. I felt peaceful and relaxed; I couldn't remember why it was so important to get up, but I guess something deep in my subconscious realized that this sleep was not natural.

And so I fought.

It was like pushing up through molasses. My eyes fluttered, but refused to open. I couldn't move my fingers beyond a few twitches. My mind, however, was recovering more quickly. Soon, I was sure that something was terribly wrong. I began to panic, to thrash against the mental bars that held my limbs. It didn't help.

The thrashing was completely metaphorical and my hands and feet still refused to move. My panic at my helplessness turned to anger, and with the familiar heat of rage came the also familiar warmth of my body temperature rising rapidly.

My Firebending Master called it, and I quote, "an unusual phenomenon." My unconscious ability to raise my internal temperature beyond natural levels when stressed or angry was something she had never seen before, that no one had ever seen before. Now, it turned out to be a blessing.

As my temperature rose, I could feel control of my body return to me. Twitches turned into jerks and flutters into blinks. Ever so slowly, my vision returned. Blinking, I peered blurrily at my surroundings. At first, it was all a smear of browns and greys, but soon I could make out earthen walls and a few metallic constructs. Some minutes later, I could turn my head, but the surveillance yielded no new clues as to my whereabouts.

All the while that my bodily functions returned to me, my heart and my mind raced. Obviously, I had been drugged and kidnapped. But by who? And where was I being kept? The only group who were dissatisfied enough to take such a drastic measure as kidnapping the Avatar were the rebels in the Water Tribe, but my prison was of Earth. None of this made any sense.

There was nothing to do, then, but to continue to fight the effects of the drugs in my system. It seemed that by raising my body temperature, I was burning through the toxins quicker than my captors expected. Thus, all I had to do was maintain my anger and my heart rate, an easy enough task considering the circumstances.

Who were my captors? Who did they think they were?

I flexed my hand.

What did they hope to accomplish with this?

My tongue wet my lips.

Did they think they could get away with this?

I bent my knee, raising my foot. If only I could…

My foot stopped, was stopped. With a still considerable effort, I moved my head and looked down at my ankles, and then back up to my wrists. It was only then that I realized that I was upright, and bound by metal shackles at my wrists and ankles.

Silently I cursed myself. Of course I would be bound. There was probably a guard, too. I would have to free myself, and then fight my way out, all while still battling the drugs in my veins. In short, I had to accelerate the process, before my captors sent someone to check on me.

While I was studying with the Air Nomads and mastering Airbending, I took a special interest in their meditative practices. The Air Nomads used meditation as a way to bring peace to themselves, to control their emotions and their heart rate and to let their minds and spirits be free. I saw another use for it. I wanted to be in control of my heart rate so as to as to be able to slow it down or speed it up. Little did the Air Nomads know that the day I mastered Airbending, I mastered this technique.

As I meditated, I reflected once more on my predicament. Before in my anger I had looked for someone to blame for my imprisonment, and had found only the Water Tribe rebels, but now even more than then I saw that that just was not feasible. The rebels had no reason to kidnap me and good reason not to; my Waterbending Master was none other than their leader, and to them it seemed likely I was a sympathizer. No one I knew of had any reason to want the Avatar taken out of the global picture. The only logical conclusion, then, was that I was dealing with someone I didn't know. This person or group of people could be anyone, could have any affiliation. They could be radicals, desperate, even mentally unbalanced.

In other words, I was dealing with a wild card.

I gritted my teeth. I hated unforeseen factors and I especially hated not being able to compensate for them. This entire debacle could prove to be disastrous. Perhaps it already had.

By this time, I was very nearly in full control of my body. My head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and my mouth had an acrid taste in it, but I could move my limbs enough to manage a clumsy sort of Bending. The metal shackles would not be too difficult to break with a bit of Earth.

I looked again at my cell, which wasn't really a cell, or even a room. It was a cave. From the slope of the ceiling, I was probably right in the side of a mountain. So, probably not the Water Tribe, then. What was curious, though, was that where the cave seemed to narrow into a passage, there was a large slab of metal acting as a barrier. Most of the barrier was taken up by a large ring of indented metal, lined with an array of flashing lights. The closest thing I had to compare them with were the glowing lanterns at the Winter Festival in the Water Tribe, but these weren't lanterns. They were just… lights, with no distinguishable source. Just in front of me was a podium of sorts, but metal like the barrier and with the same blinking lights.

And then I realized that I wasn't just chained to the wall, or strapped to a table. I was looking through glass. I turned my head as far as I could to look to my right and my left, and in both directions half of my view was blocked by a metal wall less than a span from my head. I was encased in metal and glass, a closed structure that wrapped completely around me, with the glass on my front side and the metal to my back. I was in… a pod.

This insult was the last straw. My temper flared, and my hands stretched and then clenched. Several chunks of Earth separated themselves from the far wall and flew towards me. I closed my eyes tightly and lowered my chin so as to protect my neck, preparing for the possibly lethal shattering of glass, but when then the crash came, the bits of debris I was showered with were not small and jagged, but large and blunt. I opened my eyes, and gazed in consternation at the incredibly unlikely arrangement of broken glass before me. Shaking my head, I focused again on the rocks hovering before me. Carefully, I directed the rocks to my wrist restraints, a usually simple task made laborious be fingers that seemed to be stuck with a thousand tiny pins and needles. Finally, the rocks were in place on the metal bands and with a flick of my wrists my arms were free. A few moments later, my legs were free as well.

Still groggy and with the world lurching around me, I staggered over the remains of my prison and fell to my hands and knees upon cold, rough stone. Getting up took several tries, but within minutes I found myself wobbling over to the podium and leaning on it heavily. Minutes, precious minutes spent escaping a small pod when I still didn't even know where I was or who I was up against. I had to move faster, always faster. Taking a shaky Earthbending stance, I made a pathetic attempt to bash down the metal construct in my way. A bit of Earth jumped towards the door, but fell after traveling a few spans. Growling to myself, I tried again, with only marginally better results. I was beginning to get my dexterity back, but moving anything beyond a few pebbles was beyond me.

Giving up was out of the question, though, and so I kept at it. The chunks of Earth piling at the base of the door slowly grew bigger and indeed closer to it, but I was no further along in my goal. The first time I actually hit the door- to absolutely no effect- I growled and took a step back, stumbling and catching myself on the podium. Glaring at the door I vented my frustration with quick Breath of Fire on the small stand. It seemed to help somewhat, at least the ground stopped tilting so much, and I tried it again and then again. I was still doing basic Firebending exercises when the shouting and banging started.

Starting up, and nearly falling, I turned towards the door, taking up a defensive Firebending stance, since it seemed that it was my best, and only, weapon at the moment. The shouting grew louder, though still indistinct, until it was directly outside the door. Tensing, I prepared for a fight I couldn't possibly win. The door opened, though as a sliding door, not on a hinge as I was expecting, and a number of strangely dressed youths leaped through it.

"Robin!" One of them yelled, a tall, muscular young man with darker skin than any Water Tribe native that I had ever seen. "Lock the door!"

"Already on it," replied a small, dark haired boy in a red and black jump suit. He had a cape.

"Damnit! This is so Cadmus all over again!" Yelled a skinny boy also in a jump suit, this one yellow and red. "Next thing you know, we're going to find another god damn clone!"

"Hey! I resent that!" Another one yelled, just as the little dark haired boy announced, "there, the door's locked."

Not one of them had noticed me all the time they were shouting at each other. I loosened my stance slightly, but didn't give it up. It seemed likely that these youths, though most were no younger than me, were not my captors but instead trespassers. It also seemed that they either expected me to still be drugged and contained in my pod or else they didn't expect to see me at all. Either way, there was still no way to tell how they would react to my presence when they finally turned around. I stiffened my stance.

Wild cards, indeed.

I didn't have long to wait. The first to notice me was a girl as dark skinned as the other, the one who seemed to be the leader, and who was surrounded by a dark pink aura and _flying_. I had no time to reconcile this fact, or the strange garb of all the youths before me, before she spoke.

"Aqualad?" Her voice was strangely accented, but wariness was evident in it nonetheless. All the youths turned, but it was the dark skinned boy who seemed to be responding to the call of his name. For a moment there was silence as I faced unenviable odds. Then Aqualad, strange name to match strange appearance, stepped forward and spoke in soothing tones.

"There is no need to be alarmed." He said, "We are not here to hurt you. We are here to help. What is your name?"

When I didn't respond, the kid in yellow asked in an impatient and rather loud whisper, "do you think she is another clone?"

"Where am I?" I demanded. "Who are you?"

A girl in green with a bow and arrow cuffed the kid in yellow, to which he responded with an affectionate scowl, as Aqualad, who indeed seemed to be the leader, spoke again.

"I am Aqualad"- no duh- "and this is my team." Also no duh. "We are with the Justice League."

There was a pause, as if the youths expected a certain reaction from that remark. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?" I asked.

Another pause.

"KF's right, she's gotta be a clone," said the small, dark haired boy, presumably Robin.

From outside the door there was a loud crash. "The Shadows are coming," warned the girl with the bow.

"Yes, there is not much time," Aqualad said, turning to me. "Quickly, how much do you remember of your life? Do you know your name?"

I just stared at them. "What kind of question is that? Of course I know my name. I'm Min. I'm the Avatar."


	3. Orientations: Part Two

The resulting awkward silence was interrupted by another loud crash. They were coming from directly outside the cavern, each crash jarring the door.

"We're going to have to finish this later, Blockbuster is going to be knocking on this door soon enough," said Robin.

"Then it seems we have no other choice but to fight our way out," Aqualad replied calmly. "Min, can you fight?"

I was still in my Firebending stance. With a sigh, I decided to be truthful with them, at least on this. "Not like this," I said. These youths could not be my captors, strange as they were, unless they were playing some extremely elaborate game. No, it seemed for now that I would have to trust them. "I've been drugged. I can barely walk, let alone Bend."

"Bend?" said a petite, dark haired girl in a black and white suit who hadn't previously spoken. Robin shrugged at her.

Where was I? Aqualad began issuing orders, his team moving in an efficient pattern, setting up the ambush with skill and practice that I only subconsciously noted. I no longer was paying attention, no longer heard the words spoken around me, perhaps to me. _Where was I?_ The world began to spin faster than it ever had when the effects of the drug were still strong. I suddenly found myself on my knees, but I couldn't remember sitting down. People were shouting around me, screaming. There was a loud crash, and I think the door flew through the air. It all seemed surreal to me. None of it mattered. For the first time in my life, I had no idea what to do, what I could do. All I could think was, I'm not in the Fire Nation anymore.

Dimly, I registered strong arms under my shoulders, lifting me up. A voice yelled in my ear, commanding, yet full of urgency. I seemed to remember that voice being calm before. Calm and soothing. I don't why, but it seemed the most important thing in the world to remember that voice as it was before. Before.

Then it all snapped back into focus. I was stumbling, being dragged by a pair of dark skinned arms. A voice was yelling in my ear, "She is not snapping out of it! We have to get her out of here! Robin, we need an exit! Miss Martian, prep the Bioship!"

"Got our route! Take the next left."

"Bioship's just outside the cave entrance!"

There were a series of loud crashes behind me, and then a voice. "I can't hold them all off! Artemis, I need some cover fire!"

Another voice, "scouted ahead. Armed bozos in the left passage."

"Robin, is there an alternative route?"

"Yeah, this right, right here. Go, now!"

"Artemis, Robin! Close the passage behind us!"

There was a pause of relative quiet, then a series of whizzing noises and the sound of several small explosions. Then silence.

"I think we lost them."

"For now. How's the girl?"

There was a pause. I was still in a daze. I had no idea what was going on, and that simple fact scared me more than what was actually going on. For the first time in my life, I had no idea what to do, and also for the first time in my life, I was really, truly scared.

The voice spoke again beside my ear. "Min?" it said, once again calm and soothing. "Min, can you hear me?"

In the distance, there was a crash. And then a roar.

I froze. My limbs refused to function and my heart literally stopped. Then it began pounding harder than it ever had. What was fear became raw panic. From the moment I had opened my eyes in that cursed pod, under heavy sedation and with no idea where I was or how I had gotten there, I had thought only of escape and self preservation. All I had to do was get out, get away, and everything would be fine. I would see my family again, my friends, and they would all be fine. I had never dreamed that someone I loved would be here in this hell hole with me.

"What was that?" asked the kid in yellow.

"All the more reason to get away from here quickly," said Aqualad, the soothing voice beside my ear. "Min, can you hear me? We have to move. You must snap out of this."

I couldn't hear him. Blood was pounding in my ears, drowning out all sounds and conscious thought. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Fear paralyzed me. Not fear for myself, fear for the one who I depend on more than any other.

"Nuwei…" I mumbled.

"What did she say?" asked the girl with the bow.

"Min, there is no time, you must focus."

"Nuwei," I insisted.

"Who's Nu-ay?" asked the kid in yellow.

And then I looked up, looked at all of them and around at the tunnel we were in. I searched wildly, vainly for the one here with me, strained to hear her once more.

"Nuwei! Where's Nuwei?" I shouted at blank faces. "Where's my dragon?!"

I pushed Aqualad away, my source of support since I fell into my daze. Struggling to keep upright, I lurched towards where I had heard the crash and the roar. Behind me, I heard him yell.

"Min, no! That is the way we came, it is blocked off!"

Indeed, before me was a wall of rubble, extending all the way to the ceiling. Taking an aggressive Earthbending stance, I pushed at the boulders. They quivered.

"What is she doing?" That was a male voice, not the kid in yellow, not Aqualad, not Robin. I didn't know who it was, but that barely registered in my brain. My sole focus was moving the Earth in front of me. My blood pounded, my heart raced, my temperature was feverish. Again, I went through the motions that should have demolished the wall in front of me. A few rocks exploded into dust.

"Min!"

I didn't even recognize the voice that called to me. Sweat poured off my brow. My temperature was at a dangerous level, even for me. But I could feel it working. I could feel clarity return to my senses and my mind. My limbs felt heavy, but they worked. I took my stance once more.

Voices called to me, multiple tones, multiple people. I couldn't even hear their words. My front foot came up, and then slammed down. My hands jerked apart, then came close to my body. Then both hands came forward together in one powerful motion.

The wall of rubble flew back, the force of the push cracking open boulders like eggs and slamming the remains into the far wall. When the dust settled, the remains of two tons of Earth lay strewn over an area of fifty square spans, heaped in hundreds of small piles of fist sized chunks. I looked back at the youths. They stared back at me wide eyed and open mouthed. Without a word, I turned and ran towards where I had heard Nuwei roar.

Behind me, I heard the kid in yellow say, "She's a freakin' Red!" And then several sets of footsteps ran after me.

I ran into the cavern that had been blocked off by the rubble. Frantically, I looked around, trying to discern which way the roar had come from. The cavern was an enormous dome from which dozens of passages led. For the life of me, I could not tell which way I had heard Nuwei roar.

Behind me, I heard the youths stop, and then Robin spoke. "Min, who are you looking for? If you tell me, I might be able to find him."

I looked back at him. He had his arm up and across his chest and above it was a square seemingly constructed of blue light. By this time, this did not even faze me. Nor did a red headed teen to his left, who not only was flying, but whose skin was bright green. At this point, all the strangeness was blurring together.

"Not him," I said, "her. My dragon, Nuwei. She's here."

Robin exchanged a look with Aqualad on his right, and the kid in yellow with the girl with the bow, and the greened skinned girl with a muscular, light skinned boy at her side, and the flying dark skinned girl with the petite girl in black and white. There were eight youths in all, a fact that I only just recognized in that moment.

"Your dragon," said the kid in yellow with an air of disbelief.

"Yes! Can you find her?" I directed the question at Robin, who was suddenly looking at me strangely. They all were.

"Uhhh, well…" he spluttered.

With an exasperated sound, I turned away, wetting my lips. Nuwei was my spiritual guide, a friend and ally for all Avatars in all ages. How could they not know of this? She had been a constant throughout my entire life, more so than any family member, any friend. If she was here, then I had to find her. And I could, with or without the help of these bizarre teens. When I called, Nuwei would come. If she couldn't come, then she would let me come to her. It was something we had been doing all our lives.

I pursed my lips. Taking a deep breath, I whistled a long, low note, then abruptly ended it with high shrill. I waited. Precisely five seconds later, I heard a distant roar coming from directly ahead of me. It was unmistakably Nuwei.

I looked back. "_That_'s my dragon," I told eight blank faces. Turning, I ran into the tunnel directly in front of me. As I suspected, six pairs of feet followed me after only a short pause.

The tunnel ran on for half a mile or so, twisting and turning into what I assumed was the heart of the mountain. Behind me I heard the youths following me, six pairs of feet landing in rhythm, two pairs that never touched the ground. No one voiced any complaints. No one talked at all.

The tunnel let out into another cavern, as large as the last and with as many tunnels leading out from it. This mountain was beginning to look more like a mountain range. I called to Nuwei again, and again she answered, this time from my left. I took the nearest passage without pause. Like before, it wound like a snake, but thankfully it held its general direction, albeit at a slight slant downwards. Still, no one spoke. The silence was becoming deafening.

After the next cavern, and after Nuwei again answered sounding only slightly closer, I broke the silence.

"Why are you following me?" I asked.

There was a pause, as if they had not expected this question. It was Aqualad who responded.

"We have been in a similar situation before. Like I said, we are here to help."

"What if I don't need your help?" I kept my questions short. They would crack. Or not. Either way, I would have my answers.

"It looked like you did back there," that was the male voice I couldn't put a face to. I looked back, and it was the muscular kid, the one who had been standing by the green girl, who was talking. "Look, that similar situation, that was me. The Team rescued me from Cadmus like we are doing for you. We've decided that we aren't going to abandon you."

We reached the next cavern, and I stopped and faced them. Time to put the heat on. "And when did you decide that?" I turned and gave another call. This time Nuwei was slightly to my right.

I turned, and continued running, but not before I noted their reactions. They were not grimacing or flustered, or even with smooth faces, which would have been a dead giveaway. They were looking at Aqualad questioningly. As I turned, he nodded at the green skinned girl. A female voice previously unknown to me that could only belong to her replied to my question.

"Just now," she said. _Like this._

I stumbled, and fell flat on my face. The green skinned girl had spoken all the words, but the last two were not out loud. I had heard her voice in my head. I jumped up immediately, bringing my foot down hard on the stone floor, and Earthbended a sizable boulder out of the ground. I landed preparing to launch it at the youths, who were merely looking at me.

Aqualad stepped forward, his hands held up in a gesture of peace, but when he spoke, his mouth didn't move. His voice resounded in my head as the green skinned girl's had. _Min, please, trust us. It is only a psychic link, established by Miss Martian. _He gestured towards the green skinned girl, who smiled at me apologetically.

_Perhaps it's best if we introduced ourselves._ The voice of Robin. I clutched my head with one hand, the other still holding the boulder aloft. _I am Robin, this is Aqualad, Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Superboy, Artemis, Zatanna, and Rocket._ He gestured at a teen with each name spoken. _Together, we are a covert ops crime fighting team under the Justice League, the most powerful crime fighting unit on the planet. You have to have heard of us._

I could only stare at them. Without a word, I turned and continued running. "Min!" It was Aqualad's voice, spoken aloud. I didn't respond, and he said something quiet to another of his teammates. A pair of feet began moving faster, much faster. I tensed, but before I had time to do anything else, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I acted instinctually. My hand swept back, a whip of air sending the kid in yellow, Kid Flash, flying back twenty feet. It hit the other teens, and knocked most of them down, too.

"And what about me?" I demanded. "How do you not know who I am? I'm the Avatar! You don't even know what Bending is. Who are you?!" Then I paused. "How did you move so fast?"

"It's what I do," said Kid Flash, rubbing his head as he got up. "I'm a speedster. I'm… Kid Flash."

"As for our ignorance of your history," said Robin, also pushing himself up, "we have a theory."

"You're in New Cadmus," continued the muscular young man, Superboy, "the old Cadmus was an underground genetics facility. They created clones. They created me, as well as Red Arrow. We think that you may be a clone as well.

Artemis, the girl with the bow, spoke next, "if it's true, then they programmed all of your memories. Everything you think you know about yourself is a lie."

"Though I must say, they've never been this creative with the implanted memories," said Robin.

I couldn't say a word. What was a clone? What was genetics? _Where was I?_ All I could do was turn and continue to run towards the only thing that made any sense right now. Nuwei. I could focus on that, hold onto that for a little while longer.

_We know that this is a lot to take in, but there is more you have to know._ I stumbled again as Aqualad's voice infiltrated my head.

_Before we met you, we encountered heavy resistance from the League of Shadows, an organization of assassins. _This was Robin's voice, now. _Since you heard your… umm, dragon, we've met no one. It's more than likely that we are walking into a trap._

I stopped in another cavern, but this one wasn't like the rest. It was narrower, and the only passage leading from it was the one we had just come from. At the far end of the cavern was a door like the one in the room I had woken up in. Robin was right about one thing, this was the perfect place for an ambush. I had very likely led all of us to our deaths, or at least to pods. I didn't care.

I turned back to the youths. _Let's hope so,_ I said on the... they had called it a psychic link. _'Cause I _really_ need to punch something right now._


	4. Orientations: Part Three

I had always been beautiful. Stunning, really. It was not a point of arrogance, nor a source of pride, but simply a fact of life. Before it had been revealed to me by the Fire Sages that I was the Avatar, I had had numerous suitors, young and old. Afterwards, the suitors hadn't disappeared. They simply had become more prestigious, and usually older. Now I looked upon my murky reflection in the pool beside me, and I found my beauty had been sullied. Raven locks that had before curled in perfect unison now were tangled and dirty. My unblemished, oval face with skin so pale that many suitors who fancied themselves artistic had likened it to the moon and thought themselves original was now streaked with dirt and grime and marred by angry scrapes. And eyes like emeralds, a color so rare in my native land, were clouded with the lingering effects of the drugs pumped into my veins. I found myself as two different people, one of innocence who was still blissfully unaware in my homeland, and the one looking back at me, surrounded by chaos and insanity. I found that the girl of innocence, the one of before, was fading into the murky waters.

This revelation played in the back of my head, but I gave it no serious consideration. My larger focus was of planning my next move, of finding a way, any way, out of the situation I found myself in. I, along with the Team who had declared themselves my allies, was beyond the door I had led us to. It had led to a small cavern with no other exits, much like the one I had woken up in. Nuwei was not in it. Robin had been right.

It was a trap.

The nine of us were surrounded by dozens of men dressed all in black and carrying swords, with various others peppered in between, all dressed as strangely as the eight youths. There were two hulking creatures that were not human, not anything I had ever seen before. One was steely grey and the other brown, with gigantic rips in its hide through which you could see rippling muscle. Those are the only words I know of to describe the beasts. One man, blessedly human but wearing a strange arrangement of pads over his body, including a mask that hid his face but left blond hair free, stepped forward.

"Hey, pumpkin," he said, directing his question past Aqualad in the front. "Still fighting for the losing side?"

The girl with the bow, Artemis, responded. "Dad," she said, an acknowledgement lined with scorn and a long buried hatred. "Still killing people?"

"I do what I can," he said, turning his attention to Aqualad. "Not bad, lad, except for the part where you followed the bait straight into the trap. You are being given the chance to surrender, I suggest you take it. Resistance will get you nowhere."

"We have walked this path before, Sportsmaster," Aqualad retorted, "It always ends the same. Perhaps it is you who should surrender."

I stopped listening. This was their game, not mine. I had but one concern. Nuwei. When Superboy had ripped the door off its hinges, with nothing less than his bare hands, I had been the first inside. It was empty, save for a stand on which a black box emitted the sounds of Nuwei's roars. And nine pods. Then, of course, this Sportsmaster and his League of Shadows had shown up. But the black box had been emitting the sound of Nuwei's roars and none other's. Somehow, these people knew what Nuwei sounded like and had projected it onto this magic box. Nuwei wasn't here, but they did know where she was. I stepped forward.

"I don't know who you people are, or what disagreement you have with each other," I said, cutting right into something Aqualad had been saying, "and I don't care. All I want is my dragon, Nuwei, safe and with me. She's not here, but I know you have her. Where is she?!" I pointed at the one called Sportsmaster.

He looked at me for the first time. "Dragon? Girl, I think you're on the wrong car of the crazy train. We're all- mostly- human here."

He was good, but he was lying. Even with the mask, I could see it in his eyes, in the way he was studying me. He knew of Nuwei, possibly knew where she was. I persisted.

"That device over there, whatever it is, is emitting Nuwei's roars. To be able to mimic them, you must have seen her. Lying won't do you any good; I know you have her. Tell me where she is!" I accompanied this last demand with a sweep of my arms, sending the water from the pool crashing towards Sportsmaster, about to take him into a block of ice. He never even flinched.

My wave of water was shot down by a boy of about my age, who himself was encased in what looked like ice. The beam he shot from his outstretched hand seemed to be of pure ice as well.

Sportsmaster took his time in responding, mocking in his façade of thoughtfulness. "Dragon, dragon, you know, I actually think we did encounter something like that. Big fellow, it was. Too big to take in. We had to kill it."

My lip curled. Did he think I would fall for that? "You're lying."

"Am I?" He responded, "When we first encountered your pet, it was flying around, wrecking villages and making this noise." He pulled out a small, rectangular disc. His thumb moved over it, and from the black box, Nuwei's cry came, loud enough to nearly deafen the room. Sportsmaster stood unaffected as the rest of the room flinched, though he was closest to the box.

"This," he continued, "was its dying cry." His thumb moved again.

From the black box, Nuwei's cry came once more, but this one was different. Before her cries were in fact calls and if they were a trifle desperate, they at least sounded healthy. This one was none of those things.

From the black box came a rasping, choking shriek, the sound of agony and impending death, of a last futile attempt to find a friend as the darkness of eternity closed all around. It was unmistakably Nuwei, but it was a Nuwei dying. I felt a single tear slide from my eye.

"Min," it was Aqualad who spoke, his voice an attempt to console, or restrain. It was too little, too late.

"No…" I said, dropping to my knees. A pair of feet rushed to my side, but Sportsmaster chose that moment to cry, "Attack!" and the feet suddenly stopped in a battle stance at my side.

"No, no, no!" I cried to myself as dozens of bodies fought around me. Someone called to me, I think. I looked up, and Sportsmaster was walking towards me, a javelin in each hand.

"Time to see what you can do."

"NO!" I screamed, and my hand shot out, a blast of air sending him flying into the far wall. And that's when I felt it.

It had only happened once before. I felt my anger, my anguish, my hurt, a million different feelings all blend together. In a strange way, it was comforting. I felt the pain, but it was distant, detached. I felt myself being disconnected from my body, could sense the embrace of my past lives. I looked upon myself without feeling as I was consumed by raw emotion. I could see myself, could see everything around me from a million eyes in a million brows that were not there.

My eyes began to glow. I stood up, slowly. The battle raged around me without stopping, without seeing me. That would change. I could feel the ground beneath me through feet that were not mine and through those feet I could sense the entire cave, and beyond that. I could see that we were indeed in a mountain, a large mountain surrounded by many others. We were near the top, just below the summit. I raised my hands.

The entire cave shook, the entire mountain. My hand clenched, and a wind arose from nothing, swirling around me like a funnel and stopping the battle in its tracks. On the wind danced tongues of flames, licking at bodies and singeing hair. The very air itself began to boil.

The youths and the assassins and the various other creatures around me were kneeling now, hanging onto the ground for dear life. Aqualad was shouting something, but his words were lost in the wind.

My hand tightened, and the wind became a gale storm. I whipped up the water from the pool, and fire and ice began to rain down in the small cavern. The mountain was shaking violently now, the ceiling of the cave cracking, and large boulders were falling. The mountain was falling apart.

My body was stiff, every muscle clenched. My legs stood apart, my shoulders hunched over arms brought close to my head as if to hold it against the pain, but I felt nothing. I drifted serenely across the currents of my Avatar spirit, gently held aloft by the hands of my predecessors. I watched in mild consternation as my own arms came up, then out. Cracks appeared high along the walls of the cavern, not random like before, but directed, each with a purpose.

My feet left the ground as the top of the mountain blew completely off. I was rising through a wind funnel in truth now and above me dark clouds broiled. Lightning flashed from clear skies, and then again from writhing clouds that were not there a moment before. Fire and ice rained down in fist sized chunks, landing on ground that rolled beneath feet and bucked sharply.

And then, I heard Aqualad's voice. His words were spoken in my head like before, but they were neither calm nor soothing. They were desperate. _Please,_ he said,_ I know you mourn over the loss of your friend. I can feel your pain through the link, we all can. But you have to stop this. You are killing us._

I looked down. People were strewn across the top of the mountain, littered like debris. Sportsmaster was nowhere to be seen, but his assassins clung to rock or anything they could reach. Periodically, one would lose his grip and be lost to the maelstrom. Aqualad and his Team were among those still hanging on. Kid Flash and Rocket were unconscious. Artemis held Kid Flash with one arm, the other slowly losing its grip on a crossbow that was holding the two to the ground by a cable. Rocket was in the arms of Aqualad, who alone was looking up at me.

_I cannot account for the wrongdoings of Sportsmaster, _Aqualad continued, looking at me in the eye through fifty spans of turmoil, _but I promise you, my friends and I will do everything we can to help you find your friend. Please, stop this._

As I watched, one side of the mountain crumbled and fell in an enormous landslide. Several assassins and the brown skinned brute were sent tumbling into oblivion.

_Please,_ said Aqualad, still looking directly at me. Then a large chunk of rock broke off from across the mountaintop and flew and struck him in the head. He crumpled without another word.

"No!" I shrieked. The maelstrom raged on, but now I fought against it. I fought against the hands of my past lives that before carried me like a gentle river and they clutched at me and refused to let me go. My spirit screamed and my body screamed with it, but I could not connect the two. I could not bridge the gap between the spiritual plane that I was in now and the physical plane in which people who might be my friends were dying. I fought and screamed, and Aqualad's body slid along the roiling mountaintop, pushed by the winds toward a bottomless drop off. Rocket also slid, and I tried to reach her too, but then she was pushed into a temporary crevice that had just been formed only moments ago. She lay there, relatively safe. Meanwhile, Aqualad neared the edge of the mountaintop.

I fought on, but the clutching hands of my past lives were becoming quicksand. The more I fought against it, the deeper I sank. Instead of dying down, the maelstrom intensified. Aqualad was at the edge of the abyss. His body paused, the wind dying down for just a second as if to taunt me with my helplessness and the inevitability of my failure, of his death. Then he went over.

I choked back my scream. As he disappeared, I slumped against the hands of my past lives, resigning myself to their will. For a wonder, their grips became gentle again. I was immediately back on the river. Slowly it angled back towards my body, and as my feet touched the ground, I felt control of my limbs return to me. The glow faded from my eyes as the presence of my past lives disappeared. I fell heavily onto the ground.

_Aqualad._ It was my own thought, no one else's. The other youths were pushing themselves to their feet as I scrambled over rocks and lucky survivors and others who were not so lucky. My eyes were fixed on the spot where Aqualad had gone down. He had been nothing but kind to me, had showed me nothing but understanding. For his trust and his compassion, I had killed him. I fell to my stomach on the spot where Aqualad had fallen. There, five spans below me, was a large outcrop of rock, and on it was Aqualad. His head was bleeding and his breaths came raggedly, but he was alive. I sighed with relief.

An explosion of pain ripped through my upper back. It was the shock of electrocution. My entire body spasmed, and I fell off my perch on the ledge, landing right besides Aqualad. As darkness closed around me, I saw Robin standing on the ledge, looking down at me with the grim look of an executioner. My head rolled, and the last thing I saw before I was swallowed up by blackness was the bloodied face of Aqualad.


	5. Introductions

This time, waking up wasn't slow or difficult. It was abrupt and forceful. I jerked awake to find myself in a small cell, the walls, floor and ceiling all white. The interior of the room consisted in its entirety of a bench, also white, that was built into the back wall and on which I was sitting. The far wall which I sat facing was made of glass, and through it I saw a section of a hallway, the walls and floor made of the same white material. When I shifted on my seat, I found that my hands and feet were bound together by heavy leather restraints. I was alone.

With nothing else to do and no other options, I was forced to wait for my captors to decide what to do with me. At least I had some idea of who they were this time, a thought that naturally led my mind into once again attempting to dissect the situation, with about as much success. It was clear that I had landed myself in the middle of a war, but as to who was fighting, or where we were, I had no idea. I wasn't in any of the four nations anymore, that was for sure, but instead in a land where Bending itself did not exist, or remained undiscovered. That certainly was puzzling, because I had studied many maps; I knew the geography and the political alliances of the entire known world, which meant I was in an area of the world no nation knew existed, that no nation knew could exist.

With this realization I was left at a dead end. Without a map of this new land, preferably more than one to detail geography and political boundaries, I was left blind to my situation. Thus my only possible consideration, what I had been specifically trying to avoid, was everything that had happened since I awoke. Nuwei was here in this strange land with me, lost and injured, perhaps badly. Now that I was calm and collected, I refused to consider alternative possibilities. I had found potential allies, but in my anguish I had injured several of them, some badly. Now I would be lucky if they ever let me out of this cell.

For some reason, my mind kept returning to Aqualad, to every moment of trust and compassion he had given me, to the moment in which he had almost died by my hand. I could not understand why I felt the deepest sorrow for him. Maybe it was because he had been the one there, supporting me physically and emotionally throughout the entire chaotic adventure. Maybe it was because of his tireless trust in me. Maybe it was because he was hot. Probably it was because he was hot. If he had suffered any permanent harm by my doing…

My thoughts were interrupted by a door opening at the end of the hallway to my right. Three pairs of feet started walking towards my cell. I waited for a few, long, tense moments as the feet grew closer. They didn't all sound like the footsteps of the youths. Three figures walked into my view from the right of my cell. One was Robin. I didn't recognize the other two. They stood shoulder to shoulder, watching me in silence.

Robin was on the right. On the far left, a young man slightly older than me stood. He was dressed in a red, sleeveless shirt, with a small black mask covering only his eyes that Robin also wore. He had a red bow over his shoulder, and a quiver poking up behind the other. The third man was in fact a man, and the first adult I had seen in this land who wasn't trying to kill me. At least not yet. He was dressed all in black, with a black cape and cowl. The cowl had two pointed spikes extending from where his ears should be, and his cape hung around him and extended to the floor. It was as ridiculous an outfit as any I had seen, but something about how he stood in it exuded an air of danger. The breadth of his shoulders, the intensity of his gaze all gave him a wickedly intimidating appearance.

I had gotten up when they had walked in, and now we stood in silence. None of them made any indication that they intended to speak. I knew what they were doing. They were waiting to see if I would speak first, to see what my first concern would be. Well, I was concerned.

"How is Aqualad? And the ones called Rocket and Kid Flash, they were hurt. Are they okay?"

"They'll live," said Robin. The others still didn't speak. "Kid Flash and Rocket have mild concussions. Aqualad will take longer to recover."

"But he will recover?" I persisted. "May I see him, them?"

They didn't speak.

I tried again. "I understand the restraints and the cell. But you should know they are unnecessary. You don't seem to know who I am, what I am. You don't know what Bending is. I don't know where we are that that is possible, but if you show me a map of your land, I might be able to find a way home."

The man in black finally spoke. "Who are you then?" His voice was like his appearance, commanding and intimidating.

"I'm the Avatar," I told them, still half expecting them to understand that fact. When no realization bloomed across their faces, I continued. "That means that I can Bend the four elements, Air, Water, Earth, Fire." Still no reaction. I went on. "Where I come from, most people can only Bend one element, or none. Four nations, four elements. That's my world, that's the whole world. Or at least I thought."

I stopped, but still none of the three spoke. "Well? Is this an interrogation or not?" I demanded.

The man in black spoke to Robin beside him without ever taking his eyes off me. "Bring up a hologram map." He ordered. Robin brought his arm up across his chest like before, and like before a rectangle of blue light appeared above it.

"Look, I'm sorry about-" I was cut off as a glowing sphere of the same blue light as Robin's arm display materialized directly in front of me. I stumbled back, falling clumsily onto the bench.

The man in black spoke again. "This is our planet, Earth. Show us your four nations." It was an order, given by a man who was used to being obeyed without question.

I gazed at the sphere in consternation. It seemed to be completely insubstantial; even as I examined its surface I could see right through it to the three strange individuals who still stood in silence, watching me. On its curved plains, lines snaked in twisted patterns. It took me several moments to recognize continents and oceans. Then I gasped, for before me I saw a world sitting on the giant sphere, far vaster than the one I had left behind.

There was just enough room in my cell for me to shuffle around the hologram map- that is what the man in black had called it- to examine it from all angles. The continents stretched around the sphere, none of them looking like any of the nations I knew of. I completed a full circle without seeing anything I recognized. When I got back to my bench, I collapsed on it heavily, holding my head in my hands.

I wasn't just in a new land; I was in a new world. Surrounded by such peculiarities, it wasn't all that hard to believe that this world was in the shape of a sphere, but the ironic beauty of it was that the sphere was detailed to the point that there were no blanks or unfilled areas where my homeland could be squeezed in. I found that I could not reconcile this fact.

I looked up, back at the three individuals who still studied me like some new specimen turtleduck. I felt the overwhelming sense of hopelessness creeping over me once more, felt myself drowning in its depths. It was the same feeling that before had led me to injure Aqualad and others who were only trying to help me. I refused to let it take such a hold on me a second a time.

"No." I managed. "No! You could still be lying. This could be…" I grimaced. What could it be? Back in the Fire Nation, or in any nation, everything I had seen in the past few hours was impossible. If these people were tricking me or conning me, then they at least were not lying about this. But how?

"How?"

It wasn't until Robin responded that I realized I had spoken my last thought out loud. "Like I said before, we have a theory. Cadmus is known for creating clones. Since you seem to be unfamiliar with anything conceived after the nineteenth century, a clone is biological copy of another organism. Superboy and Red Arrow here are both clones, created by Cadmus. We think you are a clone as well."

I shook my head. Robin had said that before, in those tunnels. At the time, I had been able to run from the prospect. Now, I had nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. The helplessness clutched at me, its fingers searing cold like the grasp of Death. _No!_ I thought to myself._ I do not run. I do not hide! I'm stronger than that! I've always…_

I couldn't finish the thought. Before Robin had also said that as a clone, my memories were fake. 'Always' for me was meaningless. The man with the bow, Red Arrow, was speaking.

"…was hard for me when I first learned. It still is. My memories are of another Roy Harper, but yours seem to be made up entirely. Why, we don't know."

"I have friends," I said, still straining for my last breaths, my last glimpses of light, "family, a home, a life. What about that?" A chilling thought occurred to me. "What about Nuwei?" I finished in a whisper.

"It would seem that everything in your memory is fictionalized," said the man in black. "Including your dragon. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry," I repeated dumbly. "And who are you again?"

"I'm Batman."

"Batman. Right." This was wrong. All of this, it was impossible. How was this happening? How did I get here? How…

Like a fog, desperation closed in on me. Bleak and cold, it stopped my senses and clouded my thoughts. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. Panic's iron fist held my heart, and its grip tightening with every moment spent in this hell, squeezing my chest until I felt physical pain with each breath.

I couldn't stay upright. Clutching my chest, I fell to the floor. Above me, I heard Batman exclaim, "she's having a panic attack! Robin, the med kit. Get the inhaler."

"No!" I gasped. Wheezing, I forced my limbs to move, propping myself on my hands and knees in order to look up at the men and Robin. Grimacing through the pain, I forced myself to take deep breaths. "No. I… can do… this." The words came out choked, interrupted by long rattles, but I refused to let myself be consumed by panic, and so I fought. If I could not fight the Avatar State, I at least knew how to fight through pain. My memories may have been fake, but they at least held true in that respect.

It took several, long moments, but I was eventually able to push myself up from my hands and knees to leaning on the bench, to finally standing. My breaths slowed, became steady and even. I looked up at the three in front of me, looked Batman right in the eye.

"Whoever I am, whatever I am, I am not the weak little girl you have seen so far. I'm strong, and I can handle this and anything else life throws at me. Perhaps you are right that my life is not what I thought it was. Perhaps not. Regardless, I know who I am in this moment and I know I can hold true to that. That is not something that I will give up for anyone or anything."

I finished in a rush, but also with a sense of elation. I knew those words to be true, every one of them. If everything else in my life fell to pieces, I at least knew that I would have the strength to get through it. I had just proven it.

After I finished, there was a pause. None of the individuals before me gave any visible reaction to my outburst. Then Robin said, quietly, "No one said you were weak."

I snorted. "I did. On the mountaintop, I couldn't control myself. I couldn't keep my emotions from controlling me, and for it I nearly killed all of you. I'm sorry."

Batman spoke, "the question remains, the big question from the start: what happened on the mountaintop? What exactly did you do, what can you do?"

I sighed. "All I know is what my memories tell me. On the mountaintop, I went into the Avatar State. The Fire Sages told me that it is a defense mechanism for the Avatar. When I reach a certain level of stress, my eyes glow and my Bending becomes several times more powerful. That's all I know."

I looked at each of them in turn. "What are you going to do with me? I know I have earned your animosity, but I mean you no harm. At the very least you could give me a chance to earn back, if not your trust, then at least some relative measure of freedom."

"We believe you," said Batman, "you have been truthful in all your claims, and for that you will not be held any longer than is strictly necessary. However, you are still a liability and a potential danger to others, so you will be given free rein of this facility provided you do not attempt to leave it. Beyond that, you require time to adjust to our culture, so you will be temporarily placed on the Team. They will train you and acquaint you with what you need to know and learn in order to adjust. If you are a clone, we will help you move past it. If you are not, we will help you get home. Do you accept these terms and conditions?"

This was like negotiating between the factions in the Water Tribe, except that I wasn't the one proposing the treaties. "I accept your terms and conditions," I said, "and I thank you for your most gracious offer." If only the Water Tribe had been as agreeable as I. Perhaps then I wouldn't be in this situation. Perhaps.

"There is one other thing," said Robin.

Red Arrow spoke next. "When Cadmus creates a clone, they make sure that they will be able to control it. They program key phrases into the clone's mind that will shut it down or enable other programming. They may have done this to you."

"Miss Martian's telepathic mind is able to clean out any residual programming," said Batman, "She will be in in a few minutes." The three of them turned to go.

"Wait!" I called, "I still wish to see Aqualad and the others that I hurt."

Batman looked back at me. "I will consider it," he said, and walked out of my view without another word.

A few moments later, I heard the door close, and I was alone. I moved to sit down. Then the full implications of what had just been said hit me like a ton of bricks. This Cadmus might be able to control me, my thoughts, my actions. They could know my every thought, direct my every motion. Who was to say they weren't right now in this moment? Now it wasn't hopelessness that consumed me, but paranoia.

I was still fighting my fears when the door opened again, and two pairs of feet entered. Miss Martian and Superboy entered my view. They stood watching me like the three before them, as if I was some strange new phenomenon that they were about to dissect. I noticed that Superboy stood a little in front of Miss Martian, his muscles tense and his eyes wary. The wariness wasn't for himself. He was like a guard dog for Miss Martian, ready to leap for the throat at the first sign of danger. He had to be courting her.

I spoke first. "Batman said you would make sure that I wasn't compromised. And if I was, that you'd fix it."

"Yes, that's true," she said gently. Superboy never took his eyes off me.

"May I ask how you are able to do this? And the psychic thing? Also, you're green." I was talking to Miss Martian, but I couldn't keep from watching Superboy. He blinked with disturbing irregularity.

Miss Martian chuckled softly. "I'm a Martian, hence my name. I'm a different species hailing from different planet than you, and my race has a set of unique abilities, among them telepathy and shape-shifting. Hence the 'psychic thing' and my green skin."

"Martian. Right." It seemed I was saying that a lot. "Well, let's just get started then, shall we? The sooner this is done…" I jangled my restraints at them.

"Yes, let's," said Miss Martian. "So… you just sit there. You won't feel a thing."

I had never gotten up, so I didn't move. I sat there, watching Miss Martian. Every few seconds, my eyes darted to Superboy, and then away. Miss Martian put her hands to her temples, and suddenly, her eyes glowed green. And then red.

At first I felt nothing. I began to think that nothing would happen. Then, I felt a slight tickling at nape of my neck, a tickling that didn't go away even when I scratched at it. The sensation traveled up the back of my head to my scalp, an infuriating little buzzing that rang in my ears. My head began to ache, and the tickling spread, became like sandpaper on the inside of my skull. I grimaced and was about to cry out when all of sudden, the sensation stopped.

"Done," said Miss Martian, her eyes back to normal, "You're clean."

"Gah!" I cried, "I thought you said that was supposed to be painless!"

Miss Martian frowned. "Most of the time it is. What did you feel?"

"What did I feel?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head, "I felt you, feeling around in my head like sandpaper." I frowned. "Wait, what did you say about me?"

"I said you're clean," said Miss Martian, smiling at me, "You haven't had anything programmed into you, so you're not a sleeper agent. Congratulations."

"Yay…" I said weakly, still massaging out the headache I had just acquired.

There was a pause, then, "I should inform Batman," said Miss Martian. She touched Superboy's shoulder, the light touch of one giving her lover a temporary goodbye, and left.

Superboy stayed for a few moments more, then finally spoke. "Welcome to the Team," he said, and then he too walked out. It wasn't a friendly welcome.


	6. Initiations

After Superboy and Miss Martian left, I waited for someone to come back, to let me out or interrogate me or something. As minutes turned to hours and still I waited, it began to seem as though they had forgotten me, as though the world had forgotten me. If only I could be sure which world that was: my world that everyone said wasn't real, or this one that didn't seem real to me.

Hours lengthened and passed. I began to pace my cell, such as my restraints would allow. My restraints. At first I tolerated them as a fitting punishment for my misdeeds, but as time passed and still no one came, not even with food, I began to fiddle with them, to devise in my mind a hypothetical scenario in which I escaped the restraints and the cell.

The restraints were heavy and certainly not metal, but they also were not leather as I had first imagined. I actually didn't know what exactly they were made of, but they didn't burn and they didn't come loose. I examined them more closely. They appeared to be some type of heavy fabric, but underneath I could feel a band of something hard running through their length, keeping them tight around my wrists.

A plan of action started to form in my head. The fabric of the restraints was completely non-flammable. I had tried concentrated streams of fire on small areas and all I got were bands that suddenly became wicked hot, but refused to burn. However, it was possible that I didn't need to burn the restraints, that heating them would suffice. Especially if the hardened bands under the fabric were metal- they felt like it- then if I heated them enough, they would expand so that I could simply slip the restraints off.

That left me with the dilemma of whether or not to carry out my escape attempt. It was not like I had anywhere to go. Perhaps I could simply remove the restraints and still stay in the cell, just to get more comfortable. In the end, I decided to carry out my plan out of sheer boredom.

I took a couple of deep breaths, arranging myself on the bench in a position of meditation. Focusing, I began to employ my own self-taught variation of meditation. My heart began to pump faster and my temperature started to rise, slowly at first, but gradually increasing in rate. I knew it would not be enough. Raising only my body temperature would not be sufficient to increase the temperature of the restraints to the desired point; I would also have to raise the temperature of the air around me. I had never attempted this before, but I thought that it would be similar enough to my already perfected technique, just expanded some.

Sweat began to bead on my forehead as I tested my theory. Of course, at first, nothing much happened, but I am one not easily deterred. I persisted. I Bent small ribbons of Fire into the air to help jumpstart the process, and indeed it helped. I could almost feel the air heating around the bursts of flame, and after a while I knew that I could duplicate the effect much more effectively with my meditation technique. After that, it became almost as familiar to me as my long practiced art of raising my own body temperature.

As the air temperature rose, and no significant progress was made in loosening my bonds, I began to feel the effects of my prolonged elevated body temperature. In the pod, I had been nearly delirious, and so the usually nauseating effects of my technique didn't register in my brain, but every other time I tried my technique, I quickly became ill. It only made sense. At my maximum, I could raise my temperature a few degrees above that of a fever that would have killed anyone else. Obviously, my body was able to handle extremely high internal temperature levels, but even it had its limits.

My temperature raged. I was nearly at the threshold over which I could not step without killing myself. Blood pounded in my ears, sweat clogged my pours, but I barely felt it through now crippling nausea and my instinctual determination to reach my goal. The good news was, it was working. I could feel the bands loosening around my wrists, but not yet to the point where I could slip them off. It became a race, to see whether I would escape first or kill myself where I sat.

My eyelids became heavy and increasingly hard to keep open. My limbs felt like lead. I began to thrash in my shackles, desperate to get them off, desperate to retain feeling in my fingers. The restraints slipped further down my hand, but stopped at the base of my thumb. I pulled with all my strength at the restraints. Slowly, ever so slowly, the band on my right wrist slid over my thumb, and then it was free. The other restraint proved to be only a little easier.

I moved to my feet. I was driven now by pure instinct. I couldn't remember what I was trying to do, or why it was important, I only knew that I had to see it finished, even at the cost of my own life. I was becoming delirious, as delirious as I was in the pod. Basic motor functions were becoming difficult for me; my limbs whipped around blindly, hitting things that I hadn't known were there before I hit them. I heard voices, saw shapes that I knew couldn't be there. Sometimes I recognized the voices; sometimes they were voices of people back home. Most of the time they were just indistinguishable yells.

Somehow I managed to keep working at my ankle restraints. They were probably hot enough by now that anyone with any amount of finesse left in their movements would have been able to simply slide them off, but for me, just lifting my arm was becoming an effort. Still, I eventually found myself staring down at two shackles lying on the ground. With a tremendous heave, I lifted my head to look in front of me, my eyes focusing with difficulty on the glass. In a now rare moment of clarity, I remembered my mission.

Getting up was whole set of challenges in of itself. I directed clumsy hands to my sides at the edge of the bench. My first attempt at pushing myself produced no reaction from my arms whatsoever. I tried again. And again. On the fourth try, I managed to slide myself off the bench, twisting so that I was on the floor, propped up by the bench and looking down at it. Pushing my body up was now slightly easier.

Once I was on my feet and able to maintain an uncertain balance, I took my first step towards the glass. My ankle bucked, but held my weight. I took another step, and another. On my fifth step I stumbled, falling against something smooth and vertical. The glass. I pulled my arm back, and brought it weakly against the rapidly heating surface. No effect, obviously. I tried again, this time with the little Fire I could conjure. I began beating against the glass, whipping Fire and Air at it. It became that the only thing that kept me moving was my own momentum. I was surrounded by an inferno now, the air itself at a boil, and I think that helped. In fact, I think that it was the only thing that made me succeed. The glass continued to heat up, and as it heated up, it too began to expand into the wall and the ceiling and the floor. Where glass met white plaster cracks appeared and the two began to exert pressure on each other. Cracks appeared in the glass itself, riddling its surface and weakening it.

Still I beat on the glass. I heard the voices, talking around me, to me, but always from some indistinguishable source. They seemed to be agitated, yelling. I couldn't tell what they were yelling about, or what they were saying. It didn't seem important to me. I beat the glass again, and felt it give way a little. I focused on the spot, trying to hit it to break through, but for some reason I had difficulty hitting that same spot two times in a row. I felt the weakness spread through the glass, felt more of it begin to give beneath my blows. Then, all at once, the wall before me shattered.

With the sudden lack of support I stumbled forward and fell flat on my face. I was through. In my delirium, it seemed to be the supreme achievement of my life. I felt the blackness closing around. I let it come, welcomed it. I was through, I was out, and that was all that mattered. Whatever happened next, I had reached my goal. Perhaps it was irony that in my last moments of consciousness, I heard the voices clearly for the first time. I couldn't recognize any of them.

"Damn, you, Batman! Damn you and your damn tests!"

"We're losing her!"

"We need to move her now!"

"Prep the emergency room!"

"Get me..."


	7. Acclimations

For the third time in a span of hours, I awoke from an unnatural sleep. The first time it had been a push up through molasses, the second an abrupt start. This time, though, waking up was a gentle drift up from a deep slumber, almost as if it was natural.

I was lying on a bed, a rather stiff bed with sheets that smelled too clean, but in that moment it was a luxury. It was almost as if I was back in the little shack I was staying in with my Earthbending Master. Almost, except for the smell and except that Master Kich never let me sleep past dawn. My eyes fluttered open.

I was indeed lying on a bed, in a room as white as my cell but much more spacious. For a moment, I merely lay there, staring at the ceiling and wondering how I had gotten there. I remembered the cell, remembered Batman, Robin and Red Arrow and Miss Martian and Superboy. But after that, things in my memory became fuzzy. I was bored and annoyed with my restraints and... _Wait,_ I thought, _did I try to escape? Why would I do that?_ Some of it was coming back, but in chunks that themselves seemed blurry and out of focus. I moved to sit up.

Immediately, a hand appeared on my shoulder, gently but firmly pushing me back down on the bed. "Easy," said a voice, calm and soothing, "You are still weak. Rest."

I looked to the strong, dark skinned hand on my shoulder, following it up to Aqualad's face. I was weak. When I pushed against Aqualad's hand, he held me down as effortlessly as he would a babe.

"Aqualad," I said, "What happened?"

"You tried to escape," said Aqualad, "but do not worry. No one blames you. They all blame Batman for putting the idea in your head. And my name is Kaldur'ahm."

"I... What?" I asked, caught off guard by his last statement. Aqualad was a strange name to be sure, but it seemed that everyone in this land was named so, so I had begun to take it for granted. Did Aqualad have two names? Did they all have two names?

"Aqualad is my hero identity," he explained, "It is what the public knows me as. My true name is kept secret from most of the world, but I am telling you now that it is Kaldur'ahm. Kaldur for short."

"I don't understand," I said, "Why keep your name a secret? What is the purpose of that?

He hesitated. "It is something of a tradition for all heroes. The idea is that by creating an alias and wearing a mask, you can become a symbol rather than a person, a symbol against crime and oppression. It also allows us to live normal lives and to protect our loved ones from the enemies that come with the job, though that it is not as much of a problem for me."

I shook my head, still not understanding, but I decided to let the issue lie. There were more pressing matters than the idle oddities of this world. I had to make Aqualad- Kaldur- understand that I wasn't trying to get away.

"I don't remember anything," I said, "I don't even know why I would try to escape. Why don't I remember anything?"

Kaldur frowned. "Actually, we were hoping that you could help us understand that. You escaped by heating the air around you to extreme levels, slipping out of restraints that could have held Superboy and breaking through bullet proof glass. The strain of it was enormous on you and your body. Your internal temperature rose to the point that you should have been dead in minutes. As it was, you became delirious, and have been unconscious for three days."

For a moment I just lay there, contemplating what Kaldur had said. Before this point, I had never taken my abilities much beyond the level in which they caused me discomfort, for the express reason that I feared that something much like this would happen. It seemed my fears had been confirmed. I would have to be very careful with using my technique, now more so than ever. There was also the possibility, relatively slight as it was, that a debilitating increase in body temperature could be triggered unconsciously, from extreme physical stress or prolonged rapid heart rate. I made plans to resume work on meditation, this time actually focused on relieving stress, but specifically when under stress and while maintaining the ability to interact with my environment.

Drawing myself out of my contemplation, I looked up at Kaldur. "Yeah, that makes sense," I said, "You see, some Bending disciplines have subset techniques that only a select few Benders of that Element can preform. Some Waterbenders can Heal and a very small number of Firebenders can generate Lightning. I myself can generate Lightning, but I also have, since I first started to Bend, been able to increase my own body temperature, even beyond the point that would kill anyone else."

I paused, sneaking a look at Kaldur. He sat listening, his face absolutely expressionless. I continued. "Heating the air around me, however, is completely new. I don't remember doing it, and I don't know that I could do it again. And that's honestly all I can tell you. I've never taken my ability this far, so this is the first time something like this has happened to me."

I finished, but before Kaldur had time to speak, a thought that maybe should have occurred to me earlier crossed my mind for the first time. I squinted up at Kaldur suspiciously. "Why are you here? Have you been sitting at my bedside for three days, waiting for me to wake up?" I was flattered at the prospect, though I was not really expecting it to be true. More likely Batman had set up a rotating schedule for people to watch me and I had just happened to wake up during Kaldur's shift. Still, I found myself wanting him to say yes, maybe blush a little. He was hot.

Instead, Kladur chuckled. "No, not the whole three days, but I have been checking up on you often."

"Why?" I asked, my suspicion heightening. This was not what I had been expecting, but I could work with it.

What he said next truly caught me by surprise. "You are my responsibility," he stated calmly, "The Team found you under my leadership, thus I must take responsibility for everything that ensued. And now that you have been assigned to the Team, my responsibility extends to you directly."

For a moment I gaped at him. I was feeling equal parts flattery and outrage, now. "You can't do that," I spluttered, "You can't take responsibility for my mistakes. It was my actions that put everyone in danger, that injured you and Kid Flash and Rocket. I don't need you or anyone to take responsibility for me or my actions; I can take care of myself in my world or this one and I will not have you take the fall for me." My outrage grew and with it my heart rate and for a moment I was on the verge of losing control. Then the moment passed and my pulse steadied.

Kaldur didn't even blink. "I understand your indignation," he said, "but I am not taking responsibility for your actions, I am taking responsibility for allowing the situation to progress to the point that you were forced to do the things you did. Regardless, you are still a member of my team, and that entitles me to make sure you remain healthy."

"That's not good enough," I said, refusing to let go of my anger, "the situation progressed to the point that it did because of me. I insisted on searching for Nuwei, and you couldn't have stopped me if you had tried. I was responsible for what happened every step of the way, not you. You can't claim responsibility for me!" I was fuming now, but I kept a tight reign on my anger and my heart rate, and neither were yet out of control.

Kaldur remained stalwart in face the face of my fury, stubbornly refusing to yield in his position. "There were still measures I could have taken to prevent the situation from escalating. I could have-"

"No you couldn't have!" I nearly shrieked, "Neither you nor anyone else has the right to clean up my messes for me. I clean up my own messes!"

There was a pause, and for a moment I thought that Kaldur would give in, but instead he said, "You are a very honorable person to be so stubborn on this issue."

I was taken back by the sudden change in topic. For a moment I didn't know what to say. Finally, I managed to stutter out awkwardly, "Ah... thank you."

There was a pause, and then, "You speak as though you still do not believe your own world to be a lie."

He was right. I had said 'in my world or this one' and 'searching for Nuwei,' rather than admit that this was the only world and that Nuwei wasn't real. In the cell, I thought I had accepted that I was a clone and that my life as I knew it was fictionalized, but I guess that I just wasn't ready to accept that. I said as much to Kaldur.

"No, I do not think I would be able to either," he replied solemnly. I studied him in the silence that ensued, my anger now completely evaporated him. He sat on a folding chair besides my bed, back straight and shoulders back and yet looking completely natural. I realized that this was the first time I had had the chance to really look closely at him in length. I noticed details about his person that I hadn't before. For instance, Kaldur had gills.

"You have gills." I told him, almost stupidly believing that he would be as surprised as me at this. He only chuckled. "Yes, I do," he said, "They allow me to breathe underwater, as all Atlanteans must. That is where I am from, Atlantis. It is a nation under the sea, home to a vast array of majestic peoples and creatures." His eyes took on a distant look, and his voice became fond and pained at the same time.

"You miss it, don't you," I said quietly, "Your home. Like how I miss mine." He nodded silently. "You and I are similar, then. We both are a long way from our homes. The only difference is that you chose to be here, or you would have left already. I still do not know how I came to be here, or how I can get home." I finished in a whisper, a single tear forming in the corner of one eye. Kaldur's hand appeared on my shoulder once more, but this time it was gentle and supportive. I looked up at him.

"I promise you," he said gently, "We- I- will do everything in our power to find a way."

I smiled, putting my hand over his. Pale skin over dark. "Thank you," I whispered. The tear slid slowly down my cheek.

We sat in silence for a while, but it wasn't an awkward pause in conversation like before. We merely sat there together, enjoying each others presence and the new found bound that we now shared. Still, I felt I had to break the silence. There was something I still had to tell Kaldur, something I needed him to understand.

"I just wanted to see you," I said.

"What?" asked Kaldur, startled out of some revenue.

"That's the only reason I can think of that I would try to get out of the cell," I said. "I needed to see you and Kid Flash and Rocket. I needed to tell you that I'm sorry... and that I get it now."

"Get what?" asked Kaldur.

"The key to the Avatar State, to ultimate power." I laughed bitterly. Ultimate power, but it still couldn't get me home. Kaldur was looking at me strangely. "The key to controlling ultimate power is to not control it. You can't control it or it will control you. You can only guide it."

Kaldur was still studying me, but for some reason there was now a relieved light in his eye. "No," he said slowly, "I suppose you cannot."

"It's just... I'm sorry," I said, "I need you to understand that. I'm truly sorry for what I did."

"I know," he said, "I watched the video of your escape. As you beat against the glass, you were yelling my name over and over again."

I was shocked, and slightly mortified. I was fairly certain at this point that I had developed a suitable crush on Kaldur, but I wasn't ready for him to know it yet. I had no time to come up with any kind of explanation for this, however, because at that exact moment, the door to the room we were in slammed open, and Batman all but ran in.

"Both of you," he shouted, "get dressed, polar stealth, mission briefing in five. Min, I have a polar suit ready for you." Just as quickly as he had come in, Batman turned to leave.

"Batman," yelled Kaldur, "Min is in no condition to go on a mission."

"She'll want to come on this one," replied Batman over his shoulder, "We found her dragon."


	8. Suspicions

**Well, it's been a while. About four months. Sorry about that. Anyway, I haven't forgotten about this story, as you can see, and I have been working on it. The problem is I don't have a lot of time anymore and this chapter in particular proved to be a little... meaty. 10,820 words meaty. After this, I don't know how much I'll be able to update, but I'll try. My schedule is really tight until about March, but then it all drops off, so we'll see how it goes then. I do intend to finish this story, but to give you a little perspective, at this point in time there are 27 planned chapters in total, and this was chapter 7. So, yeah. I feel I owe you something, though, for making all of you wait. So how about a few hints? **

**Hint #1: The Light does indeed have a diabolical plan in motion, a plan that is the center conflict of the story. And it is diabolical, as diabolical as anything in the actual show, if not more so. And yes, cloning will be involved, somehow.**

**Hint #2: This story will be spending a significant amount of time in the Avatar Universe. About half of the story in fact: the second half. And since we will be going to Min's home, we will see all her friends and family, including her very own "Team Avatar." That, of course, is another major, if more personal, conflict in this story: the conflict over Min's identity, and which 'Team' is Min's true "Team Avatar."**

I was on a ship that flew through the air. From what I had gathered, it belonged to Miss Martian and was called 'the Bioship.' Apparently, it wasn't even an 'it,' either. Miss Martian referred to the ship as 'she.' I had heard boat captains refer to their ships as 'she's,' but something in the way Miss Martian talked about this ship made this different somehow, like the ship was alive. I didn't doubt it.

No one spoke. We had been flying for hours, but no one had broken the silence for the latter half of the ride. It was the silence of anticipation and of preparation. I couldn't stand it. My leg was shaking and I couldn't stop it. For what must have been the fiftieth time I unconsciously began drumming my fingers on the dashboard in front of me, then grabbed my hand with the other when I realized what I was doing, forcing both hands to stay in my lap. I looked around at the other people in the small space. Every one of them was calm and collected. It was as if for them this wasn't anything more than a routine practice drill, rather than an orbital trek across the world.

I jumped when Miss Martian spoke, at last breaking the silence. "We're approaching the South Pole," she said.

In my head, I saw again what led to my journey to my least favorite place in my world and this one.

_"The South Pole is desolate and inhospitable, and it is where you nine will be journeying," said Batman. "Reports have come in from the southern tip of Chile that a large flying beast was sighted attacking villages and ships."_

_"Nuwei?!" I cried._

_"It seems likely, yes," said Batman, "These pictures were taken of the beast."_

_Behind him on the holographic screen suddenly appeared a blurry image of a long golden serpent, apparently flying on what appeared to be large burnished wings over fuzzy hills. Nuwei was unmistakable, even in as poor an image as this._

_"That's her!" I nearly shouted, "That's Nuwei! We have to find her!"_

_"There's more," said Batman, "Reports say that a group of mercenaries came and attacked the beast. The last reports say they herded it south into Antarctic waters. Descriptions of the mercenaries fit the League of Shadows, complete with accurate depictions of Blockbuster and Mammoth. Thermal scans show a large area of slightly increased temperature close to the surface of the South Pole, enough to suggest the presence of a heated, well insulated facility. However, due to the extreme atmospheric conditions, we have not been able to get any kind of satellite imagery of the facility, if indeed there is one."_

_"Nuwei's at the South Pole?" I cried, "We have to get her now! She hates the cold!"_

_Batman continued as if I hadn't spoken. "The plan requires you to take an orbital path to the Antarctic. You will reenter the atmosphere directly above the South Pole. Two squads will deploy. Alpha squad, consisting of Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Rocket will deploy first and attempt to find an entrance to this Antarctic facility. Once an entrance is located, Beta squad will come in in the Bioship and you will all gain entrance to the facility together. This is a reconnaissance mission-"_

_"I request entrance onto Alpha squad," I broke in, "This is my dragon we're going after, and I have vital survival skills in Polar Regions. I lived with my Waterbending Master in the North Pole for three years, so I can guarantee that I am the most qualified out of everyone here to keep the Team alive in the South Pole."_

_Batman exchanged looks with a man completely encased in a red metal suit. All the members of the Team were looking at me like I had three heads. Artemis was glaring at me, Robin was watching me with an expressionless face, and Kaldur was giving me a sympathetic look. Then Batman turned back to me._

_"Permission granted," he said, receiving surprised looks from the Team._

I was forced out of my remembrance by words spoken by Kaldur. "Alpha squad, prepare to deploy," he said.

I stood up from where I had been sitting for the past seven hours, and when my legs nearly collapsed under me, it was only partly because of my nerves and cramps. Kaldur had been right, I was far too weak to be going anywhere, let alone into a war zone. To myself, I could admit this, though Batman and his Team would have to chain me to my bed in order to keep me from coming on this mission.

At first, I was unsure as to what exactly an "orbital path" was, and I was only confused more when we began moving almost completely vertically, but Kaldur explained it to me. Apparently, their world, called Earth, was an enormous sphere floating in an infinite vacuum, which they referred to simply as 'Space.' Somehow, it was faster to travel up into Space and then fly with the curve of Earth- this is orbit- and reenter the Earth's 'atmosphere' just above the South Pole. All in all, it was a fascinating concept, made even more spectacular when we did enter Space. Hurtling through orbit, with an infinite blackness on one side and the giant curve of green and blue- they weren't kidding, I really was on a whole new world- on the other was breath taking. It left me feeling... lost.

_Where was I?_

I didn't let my worry and homesickness show. For the first half of the ride, I drilled Kaldur on the physics of planets, my curiosity completely genuine, and I only stopped because Artemis's glares finally unnerved me. She in particular had been enraged to discover that Kaldur had shared his 'secret identity' with me. She accused him of being careless, and when I defended his choice, she snapped back at me, telling me I couldn't be trusted.

I understood her animosity. She reminded me of Superboy back in the cell, when he had acted the guard dog for Miss Martian. Except that Artemis wasn't protecting Miss Martian, she was protecting Kid Flash. They also, it seemed, were in a committed relationship. Kid Flash himself treated me like a long lost friend, genially slapping me on the back and assuring me all was forgiven when I apologized for his concussion, but Artemis was always there just behind him, looking like she wanted to knock an arrow.

The four other members of the Alpha squad stood up with me. The Bioship descended through inky blackness, blackness that grew no less oppressive as we grew closer to desolate ice below. I could see the windshield icing up, could almost feel the biting pain of the frigid air. I hated the cold. All Firebenders are more comfortable in heat than cold, in summer than winter, in day than night, but for me it has always been even more pronounced, despite my being the Avatar and theoretically able to thrive in all environments. I suppose it was my fortitude against extreme heat that left me vulnerable to even a mild chill. I had told the truth when I said to Batman that I could survive in the Artic, but what I had failed to mention was that I was only proficient in the most basic techniques, the ones that Water Tribe children master by the time they are able to stray from their mothers' direct line of sight, and with those I still had difficulty. Nuwei was in the South Pole, though, and for her I would face down the spirits themselves.

The Bioship stopped its descent a hundred spans above the ice. The air around the ship whipped ice and snow at the windshield with a fury, and it was these conditions that prevented the Bioship from actually landing. We were jumping out. Miss Martian and Rocket could fly, and Superboy apparently could fall from any height unharmed, but Miss Martian had offered to levitate me down along with Aqualad. I had refused. Frigid air or no, I never turned down a chance at skydiving, and I was after all a Waterbender.

I was the first one to the hatch as it opened in the back end of the Bioship, adjusting the thick goggles I had acquired specifically for this purpose. I was at the opening, looking down through flurries of snow and gritting my teeth against blasts of air that felt like razors on my bare skin- this was through several layers of polar stealth clothing, including a heavy hood and a scarf over my nose and mouth- when a hand appeared on my shoulder. Kaldur- Aqualad, as I was to call him on missions- looked at me with searching eyes.

"Be careful," he said in a tone that was most uncharacteristically uncertain. I just grinned at him through my scarf, turning to face him fully. I spread my hands out, and eight sets of eyes were on me. Then I let myself fall backwards out of the ship.

I think someone yelled something, but it was lost to me as I was swallowed up by howling winds. I was beat at from all sides by countless shards of ice, and bitter winds tore through my clothes, chilling me to the bone in an instant. For a moment I wondered if perhaps I should have accepted Miss Martian's offer, but then I had no time for contemplation. Desperately I twisted my body, pointing my head down to watch the ground hurtle towards me. Controlling my descent with my limbs, I focused on the ice below me. With a wave of my arms, the ice cracked and crumbled, and snow rushed up to meet me. I was swallowed by its gaping maw, the soft powder acting as a cushion for my fall. It only slowed me, though, and not by much. Struggling against the wind and the ice, I brought my feet down, my arm punching down with it as I connected with the ground. With my arm I disintegrated the hard upper layer of ice, my feet coming down on, not quite snow, but also not a hard, solid surface. After that, it all happened too quick for me to consciously discern what was going on, but I ended kneeling, supporting myself with shaky arms in a small crater in the ice.

For a moment I just sat there, my limbs barely able to support me. When I tried to get up, my arms refused to move. It was all I could do not to collapse. I thought then that it was possible that I had made an error in judgment in deciding to take the leap myself.

Some distance away from me, I heard a low boom. Superboy had just landed. I redoubled my efforts at getting to my feet. Whatever happened, I couldn't let the Team see me in weakness. With an effort, I raised one arm, groping around blindly for a ledge or anything to prop me up. My arm brushed the side of the crater I had made, and I grasped at it. I scrabbled at the wall, finding handholds that crumbled beneath my fingers, but simply moving my arms helped to jump start my body. Supported by the wall of the crater, I managed to get to my feet just as Superboy appeared above me.

"Need a little help?" he said neutrally.

"N- no, I g- got this." I responded back, my speech impeded by chattering teeth. The fall from the Bioship had been to quick to allow me to truly register the extreme cold, but now I felt the full force of the freezing temperature. It was worse than the North Pole back home by far. My entire body shook, not from fatigue, not from nerves, but simply from the frigid air. My arms were numb and leaden as I took a Waterbending stance. I couldn't show any weakness.

My moves were indescribably clumsy, but I managed to direct them in approximately the correct manner. My hands came out, and one side of the crater was pushed back so as to become less steep. One hand came in, then out as the other came in in a tight jerk. The slope received several indentations, forming a set of rough stairs.

I smiled at Superboy, a gesture which he probably missed since my entire face was covered. "S-see?" I stuttered, and inwardly grimaced at my lack of speech control. "N-no p-problem."

As I climbed the steps, slowly so as to not stumble and fall, I pulled down my scarf to expose my mouth. My lips were numb in an instant. Working my mouth to gain back dexterity, I did a couple of quick Breaths of Fire to warm myself, then a bigger one, and kept the flame going with my hands. The flame stuttered and nearly went out as I replaced my scarf, but I kept it going. At the top of the staircase, I joined Superboy and we walked over together to the rest of the squad where they were surveying the landscape. As I walked, I concentrated on the flame, soothing it like a babe and making it steady and even. Then I gave it some juice.

It was a technique I learned in the North Pole, when temperatures reached record lows during winter storms and I couldn't get my heart rate up to increase my body temperature. Then I would create a flame like this one, and make it burn hot enough to provide some degree of warmth in a sub-zero climate. The key was not to make it bigger, but stronger.

The flame went from a dancing red to a steady blue, and then a brilliant white. It was so hot that looking at it hurt my eyes. The wind whipped away most of the heat generated, but a precious little seeped into my hands, and I at least regained feeling in my fingers. The heat even seem to revitalize me somewhat; I felt just a bit of my strength return. I held the flame as close to my body as I dared. Perhaps I could get my teeth to stop chattering. Superboy was looking at me sideways, and I couldn't get a read on his expression. He didn't seem tense, but at the same time I felt that he was preparing to fight back should I suddenly decide to light him on fire. In this manner, we joined the rest of the group. Aqualad was talking.

"...and get a psychic link going," he said to Miss Martian, although the rest of the group looked like they had just received instructions as well. She nodded, and suddenly I heard Aqualad's voice in my head.

_Robin,_ he said, _scan the area with the Bioship's radar. Look for large structures. We should be right on top of this thing._

_I'm not getting anything,_ came Robin's reply,_ but the area is bordering on mountainous. This could be an underground bunker._

_If we're looking underground, _I put in, relieved that I could at least keep my voice steady in my head, _then I can burrow down through this ice. It might be easier to find an underground structure if we're underground._ The words came out flawlessly, but I wasn't fooling anyone. The members of Alpha squad in turn noted my near-spasmodic limbs and the way I was hunched over my flame. Not one of them so much as acknowledged the cold. Aqualad in particular gave me a sharp, almost accusing look, but neither he nor the others said anything.

_Perhaps, _responded Robin, completely ignorant of the group dynamics below him, _that could be useful if we have to localize our search, but for now we should just stick to the plan._

_Copy that,_ replied Aqualad, and the link went silent. He continued aloud, scanning the landscape as he spoke.

"There are two points of interest," he said, "The cliffs to the north and the hills to the south-east are the only areas that could hide any kind of man-made structure. Superboy and Miss Martian, you two search north, Rocket, Min and I will search south-east. Rondezvous at this location in an hour. Keep your GPS beacons activated."

Without another word, Miss Martian and Superboy peeled off to the north, and I had to shuffle hurriedly through the snow to catch up to Aqualad and Rocket, shielding my flame with my body as best I could. Aqualad loped easily through the ice, and Rocket flew even faster, both completely at ease in the barren wasteland. I envied them bitterly. Freezing gale battered me from all sides, and wading through knee deep snow soon became an exhausting toil, made worse by my fragile state. Within seconds I was panting, unable to keep pace with Aqualad, let alone Rocket, who seemed to be scouting ahead. After a few strides, Aqualad noticed that I was struggling, and slowed his pace enough to allow me to catch up. Rocket continued as she had before.

I gritted my teeth. _No weakness. _Putting one hand out in front of me, I strengthened my flame even more. The white sphere of heat condensed, drew in on itself, then shot out in a powerful stream, vaporizing the ice and snow in front of me into billowing steam that immediately solidified again in the freezing air. The tactic was successful, though, for before me lay just a few spans of walkable ground. I lengthened my stride, keeping my stream of liquid Fire steady and aimed a few spans ahead of me, and in front of me the snow parted, allowing me to walk almost unhindered.

When I had caught up, Aqualad didn't look at me. He only said, almost out of the corner of his mouth, "I thought you said you could deal with this environment."

Perhaps I should have felt irritation at this lack of confidence in me, however well earned, but at that moment all I could feel was gratitude. Gratitude, that Kaldur was considerate enough not bring up my weakness in front of the Team. Still, I made my reply defiant in tone. No need to let him know what I was thinking.

"I s- said I c- can survive in th- the arctic," I retorted, and had to pause to whether a particularly cutting blast of wind and ice, "and I c- can, b- but that d- doesn't mean I l- like it here." I finished the statement just in time to brace myself against another gust of icy air that seemed to rip right through my coat. I forced myself to continue. "I'm a F- firebender, I th- thrive in the d- dry heat of Fire N- nation," another gust, another pause, "…s- summers, not in this d- damnable wasteland."

Aqualad looked down at me then, for he was striding over the snow and I under it. His gaze was patronizing and accusatory, but behind that there was just a gleam of worry. "You should not have put yourself in this position," he said, his voice quiet and steady, "especially in your condition. The purpose of being on a team is that you never have to overexert yourself, that there is always someone else to pick up the slack. I know your friend means a lot to you, but-"

"No!" I said forcefully, for a moment forgetting about the cold. "This isn't ab- bout me, or th-the Team. N-nuwei 's out here, and I have t- to find her. She won't l- listen to anyone else, n- not like th- this."

"We will find her," said Kaldur, and his voice had just the slightest edge to it, "but you have to learn to work within the Team. I need to know that I can rely on you to do your part."

I stared sullenly ahead. I had never been very good at teamwork. "Yeah, s- sure," I said, "Y- you can c- count on me."

There was silence, in which both of us stared ahead through the blizzard. Suddenly, I realized that I couldn't see Rocket's pink glow through the snow. Glancing up at Aqualad, I saw that he had noticed, too. I was about to say something when he spoke.

"The psychic link is dead," he said sharply. "But the only reason Miss Martian would cut it off-" Suddenly he was assuming a battle stance, taking out two hilts from the pack on his back. A glowing liquid followed, and assumed the shape of sword blades on the hilts. It was water. He was Waterbending.

"We are under attack," he said grimly, "It is likely that Rocket has been captured. We need to find her and regroup with the rest of the Team, before our enemies catch us divided." He looked at me. "How fast can you travel through ice?"

Was he kidding? "Fast- ter than you," I said.

"We will see," he responded. "You will have to let that flame go." And then he was running faster than I thought possible, his bare feet- _bare feet_- barely touching the ice. With a grimace, I let my flame die out. My fingers immediately went numb.

I focused on the ice before me. With one stomp, it broke apart, yielding soft snow. I bent my knees and ran a few awkward steps forward, then leaped up. When I landed, the snow yielded beneath my feet, but stayed firm, supporting my weight. I pushed one foot back, then the other, and then I was running over the ice, my feet skating over snow that rose and fell to propel me forward faster than I could run on flat ground. Within five strides, I had caught up to Aqualad, and together we sped through the ice.

We didn't have far to go. Less than a minute later Aqualad abruptly stopped, signaling me to stop as well. I skidded to a halt just before I crashed into him, spraying snow up in front of me as my feet dug into the ice. I looked at him questioningly, and he pointed ahead of us.

"Look there," he said. I looked, but saw nothing but swirling snow. I said as much. "There are a group of men a hundred paces ahead of us, and it looks like they could be carrying something," he explained, and his voice was tight and angry. I could guess why.

"Kaldur," I said sharply, and his head snapped towards me, away from a furious search of the landscape before us. I continued more gently. "Th- this isn't y- your fault. Y- you c- can't blame yourself f- for this."

He looked at me with an expression approaching incredulity. "I am responsible for this Team," he said, "It is my duty to ensure that exactly this not happen. It is very much my fault that Rocket was caught alone and that we have walked into our enemy's trap."

"N- no," I said, "You c- can't think that. What's d- done is done, and n- now Rocket and th- the rest of th- the T- team need you to be c- calm and f- focused. We all m- must d- do our p- part, re- remember?"

Aqualad's gaze hardened. "Let us both do our parts then," he said stiffly, his gaze returning to his search of the landscape before us. I sighed, and shuddered violently. I really _hated_ this place. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kaldur look down at me.

"Thank you," he said softly. I smiled into my scarf.

He motioned for me to follow, and the two of us crept forward slowly, staying close to the surface of the icy terrain. Not that it was that hard, when I was once again wading through snow that was rapidly growing level with my waist. I studied the blizzard before us intently, but still I saw no sign of the people Aqualad had talked about. He seemed to know where he was going though, so I kept searching for signs of movement. Then I did see a flicker of something, just for a moment. When Aqualad motioned for me to stop, I knew we were not far from our targets.

"Five targets," he whispered, "All Shadows. We will ambush them."

"I c- can't see them y- yet," I whispered back, "b- but when I c- can, I c- can t- take out t- two or three simult- taneously." I saw another flicker through the blizzard. They were getting close.

"Good," said Aqualad, "I will go around and flank them from the other side. Give me a slow count to thirty, and then engage them from a distance." With that, he vanished into the blizzard, disappearing so suddenly that I wondered if he hadn't simply been swallowed up by the ice.

I began counting slowly, _one, two, three..._

I still couldn't see anything. How was I to assist Aqualad if I couldn't engage our targets?

_Eight, nine…_

The wind whipped my coat, burned my face, but my pulse was rising, and it began not to affect me. I couldn't maintain a high heart rate and thus a high internal temperature over an extended period of time, which was why I was stuck freezing half to death before, but with a fight imminent, and my role in it in question, I was beginning to feel the thrill and the anxiety of battle approaching.

_Nineteen, twenty…_

Nuwei was still out here! What if I couldn't find her? What if I couldn't save Rocket? What if I let Kaldur down?

_Twenty-seven, twenty-eight..._

No! I couldn't- I wouldn't- let myself fall into this again. I would find Nuwei, I would rescue Rocket, and if there was time after I would make Kaldur fall head over heels for me. And then I would find a way home, to my home.

_...Thirty._

As if by design, the wind-whipped snow in front of me materialized into a number of approximately man-sized shapes. It was to my great relief that they all were approximately the size of ordinary men, and not, say, several times larger. I had had my fill of monsters of the night to last me at least the rest of the day.

I focused on the two figures closest to me. Best not to overshoot it; normally I could take out all five of them with ease, but today teamwork was sounding pretty good. My heart rate increased even more as I flexed my fingers in my gloves. My body temperature was rising at a greater pace now; still not at the pace it normally would due to the sub-zero conditions, but it helped nonetheless.

I raised my hands, and with them rose two tendrils of ice. The tendrils swayed tenuously, then steadied as the ends turned to point at my two targets. They moved forward with my hands, looking like snakes as they slid silently through the ice. As they moved forward, I lowered my hands, and the tendrils lowered themselves until they were inches above the ground. They reached the group without the targets so much as looking around.

I took a deep, steadying breath, and then brought my arms forward, my hands closing into fists. The two tendrils of ice shot forward, wrapping around the ankles of the two nearest assassins. I pulled my hands back swiftly, and before they had time to look down, the Shadows were knocked off their feet and dragged towards me. The other Shadows turned, battle-ready in an instant, but that was their mistake. The snow behind them abruptly gave way to Aqualad, his two swords now in the shape of maces. Two swings, and two assassins dropped like stones to the ice. I quickly knocked out my captives, and then watched as the last remaining Shadow turned to face Aqualad, who had smoothly transitioned and whose maces were cutting towards the assassin's side in what would be a rib-crushing blow. The assassin made no move to avoid the swing, but instead simply lifted his hand as if to swat away a fly. The maces stopped in their tracks as if they had hit a wall.

Racing forward, I brought one hand, palm open, down upon the ice before me. The hard surface cracked in an instant, and snow flew up to at least my full height. Before me, the ice crumbled and flew up in a straight line that shot towards the lone assassin. It wasn't until I had launched my attack that the assassin brought his own hand up to Aqualad, and a mass of snow shot up and hit him in the jaw. The man turned, and my Bending failed me before my attack ever reached his outstretched hand.

"No..." I whispered. "It's not possible."

The man was in white, like the other assassin's, but his face wasn't covered like them. He wore a hood low over his face, and beneath it a pointed white beard poked out. He moved like a snake, his hands coming up and then down and out towards me. A ball of ice rose up with his hands, hardened, and shot at me. In my shock, it was all I could do to throw myself to the side to avoid the projectile.

I landed in the snow, my face full of hard, bitter cold splinters, but my only thought was of the man in white. _He was a Waterbender!_ How?

Frantically I tried to push myself up, my hands sinking into the snow and denying me anything to push off of. I clenched my fists, hardening the snow just beneath them, but even as I did so, it became like quicksand, trapping me and pulling me down.

It had to be the Waterbender. He was Bending the snow around me, trying to encase me in a tomb of ice. If he thought he could hold me, he was poorly mistaken. Gritting my teeth, I stopped trying to move the snow, and instead focused on Fire. I was on my hands and knees and almost completely immobilized, and the snow around me was quickly hardening and squeezing, but around my body tiny ribbons of flame were appearing and growing. The air began to heat, and I felt it heat. I knew then, at that moment, that I could make it even hotter.

There was no time for conscious thought, for if there were my first thought would be a sense of triumph, as the air around me began to heat rapidly. The snow holding me down began to melt, and I bent Air to force the heat into the tiny spaces in between snow crystals, but still I was held fast. The snow that melted into water only froze again as fast as I could melt it, and squeezed even tighter. It became a race between myself and the Waterbender, to see if I could escape before I suffocated. Already, breathing was becoming difficult.

I redoubled my efforts. I was not going to die, not like this. Nuwei still needed me. Kaldur still needed me. With those thoughts came a surge of strength I didn't know I possessed. The ice cracked, crumbled in some places, and gave way.

With a roar, a mountain of snow flew up. The force of the explosion also threw me to my feet, and I just managed to keep from toppling over as I spotted the Waterbender a hundred spans away. He looked at me through his hood, at least I assume he was looking at me as his face was obscured in shadow, and I took a shaky stance in the snow. I was still weak, but this man was not about to escape me. He was a Waterbender, someone from my own world. He could have all the answers I sought. But why was he fighting me? He should have realized by now that I was the Avatar. He should know who the Avatar is.

The Waterbender wasted no time. For a split second we stood there, starring at each other through a hundred spans of snow and ice, and then he crouched and shot forward, snow flying up behind him. I was only slightly slower in conjuring up a roaring monolith of flame that lifted me up and rocketed me forward towards the Waterbender. We were both masters of our crafts- I could see that much- and he wanted to pit his strength directly against mine in a head-on collision. Normally I would welcome the straight-forwardness of the test, but as weak as I was, I couldn't afford the consequences if I lost, which if I were to be completely honest with myself, was almost a sure thing.

But here I was on a collision course, and there was no backing out now. All there was to do was put every ounce of my remaining strength in my headlong charge and…

I saw an opening. Acting on pure instinct, I pushed off the Fire on my left, flinging myself to the right of the Waterbender as we closed the final few spans. Twisting in midair, my right foot came around, directing the full force of my conjured Fire directly at the Waterbender. I had time only to see him fling up his hands before I sailed out of his way and landed in a snow drift. Then, suddenly my vision was blackened and my hearing muted.

I lay there, stunned, for what must have been a few seconds but felt like hours, before dazedly pushing myself to my feet. Swaying, I looked around me, and spotted the Waterbender lying face down in the snow. Half limping, half dragging myself through the snow, I made my way over to him. He was laying very still, his robes torn and his hood slightly askew. I couldn't tell if he was breathing. Vaguely, I hoped that he was still alive, but exhaustion was beginning to take its toll, and the possibility barely registered in my mind. I fell to my knees beside the Waterbender. My hand extended slowly towards the motionless figure, and I couldn't keep it from shaking violently, though whether it was from the cold or the shock I don't know.

I touched his side, half expecting him to leap up and smite me where I sat, but he didn't move. Gathering what strength remained in me, I Bent the snow underneath him and with an exhausted heave, I flipped the Waterbender over onto his back. He sprawled limply, snow still half covering him, and in the process his hood fell from his face.

If it was shock that I felt before, now I was encased in a mind-numbing stupor. I couldn't think, couldn't feel anything. I couldn't even formulate a conscious denial of what I saw before me; all I could do was hide behind the sudden overwhelming urge to wake up out of this vivid nightmare. That was all it was. That was all it could be. None of this was real.

That was how Kaldur found me, trudging out of the whiteness with Rocket slung over his shoulders. Even through my stupor I took note of that: he had gone to help Rocket instead of me. I just couldn't figure out what it meant, or why I should care. I was still staring at the Waterbender in unconscionable horror.

"Min," he called, "Are you all right?"

I couldn't begin to answer.

He struggled on towards me. "Min," he said again, "The psychic link is back up. Klarion the Witch-Boy and Psimon are here. The others are battling them right now, we must move. We are regrouping and retreating. "

That snapped me back to consciousness. "We c- can't l- leave him," I said, looking up at Kaldur. And I had almost forgotten about the cold. I tried to ignore it as much as possible as I began to try to scoop up the limp figure into my arms.

Kaldur moved closer, still gripping the unconscious Rocket. "Do you know this man?" he asked. He set Rocket down beside me. I spared a glance for her; she was pale- which is to say she was somewhat paler than Kaldur- but she seemed to be breathing evenly. Kaldur bent over the body in front of me, checking vital signs and looking for serious injuries.

"He is badly burned," he reported, "but he will live, provided that he is transported somewhere more hospitable. I cannot carry him and Rocket, though, and you are too weak." He paused, and I heard his voice in my head, through the psychic link. It was also then that I realized that his voice was not the only one. Many voices shouted many words and had been for quite some time, but I only heard them and was able to process their meanings now, once my own battle had finished.

_Min and I require an immediate evac. All squads rendezvous at our location ASAP and prepare to retreat. We have a downed hostile who we are taking with us._ Aqualad's voice gave the order, and someone responded, but I didn't hear what was said. I sent my own message over the link.

_I can't leave without Nuwei_, I said, right over another person who was talking. I don't know who it was. _She's the entire reason we came here._

_Well, actually,_ said Robin with a touch of annoyance, _we came here to do reconnaissance. I'm sorry, but we can't risk going on, not with Klarion here._

I didn't try to argue. Pushing myself up, and using Kaldur as support, I stumbled a few steps away. It didn't matter what any of them said, there was no way I was leaving without Nuwei. I couldn't leave without Nuwei. I tried to wet my lips, but as cold as it was, I couldn't seem to summon up any moisture. I heard Robin in my head, again.

_We're on our way. ETA two minutes._ I had two minutes. Two minutes to find Nuwei. If only I could find just a little liquid.

"Min," that was Kaldur behind me, his voice touched by worry but firm all the same. "I am sorry for your friend, but we cannot go on. We must retreat. I promise you there will be another day, a day when we will be prepared."

I believed him, believed the sincerity in his voice, but I couldn't wait. Not when I was this close. My lips were raw and numb and felt like they were cracking open, but it would have to do. Pulling down my scarf, I performed a few quick Breaths of Fire, and that gained me back some precious mobility in my mouth, mobility that began to fade even as the last sparks were quenched by the frozen air.

_We're being pursued._ That was Miss Martian, her voice tight with strain. _I can hold them off until we reach your position, but I don't know how much I will be able to do then._

I could do something. I tried to purse my lips, but my chattering teeth made it almost impossible.

_Drop down a line, and you can pick us up while still maintaining momentum._ Aqualad, his voice strong and unwavering, but outwardly his attention was on me, watching me with concerned eyes.

I blew air through my lips, but it was a rasping exhale. It was just too damn cold.

_Copy that, ETA forty-five seconds._

I tried again. Nothing. I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop trying.

It was silence in my head, finally, but a tense silence of anticipation. What was approaching was going to be ugly, and everyone knew it. Kaldur spoke behind me. "Min, we must get ready to depart. We have to secure Rocket and your friend, and we have to be ready. Min!"

And like that, inspiration hit me. I knew I could do it, finally knew how to do it. I blew air through my lips again, but this time the air was warm, hot even, hotter than anything my body could generate naturally, a steady stream of boiling hot air that grew even hotter with every breath. It was delicious. I took a deep breath and…

A long low note escaped my mouth, piercing through the snow and wind and seeming almost to echo and resound in a void that was more solid than not, a note that ended abruptly in a high shrill that stayed in the air even after I closed my mouth.

I waited.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

"What-" began Kaldur, and then a monstrous cry shook what ground there was beneath my feet, almost seeming to come from directly beneath me. It was a roar, muffled by snow and ice and yet strong all the same. It was the answering call of a dear friend, the resounding cry of a dragon- the roar of Nuwei.

The Bioship came into view, flying low and fast toward our position. It was close and rapidly closing the distance. There was but a moment left. I scanned the horizon- what I could see of the horizon- but there was no other sign of Nuwei and no way to tell from which direction her roar had come. I prepared to call her again, but suddenly doubts plagued my mind. Who was to say that this wasn't another trick? And even if Nuwei was here, only a few hundred spans away, how was I to get to her? To free her? I prepared to call her again all the same, refusing to let doubt stop me now. I pursued my lips, the Bio ship nearly upon us, and…

Out of the white oblivion came a blast of crackling red energy, a bolt of it aimed over my head, towards the approaching Bioship. Breath failed me. As time seemed to slow, my head turned of its own accord, my eyes going to the red and black construct hurtling towards us. There was no way it could avoid the projectile, I thought. I watched helplessly as the Bioship flew right at the energy blast, as it rotated in the air and turned and just missed the projectile, shooting over and past us and quickly disappearing into the blizzard. I could feel no relief- there just wasn't any time to- as I looked toward where the energy blast had come from. All around me I saw figures that weren't there a moment before, figures clad in white and a few of them inhuman in appearance. Right in front of my eyes, more figures materialized from thin air out of blood red portals of the same crackling energy as the projectile that had been shot at my friends less than moments ago.

I stood there staring at assassins and monsters alike, and they stood there as well, returning my stares but not making any move to attack me and Aqualad and Rocket. Then one figure, before obscured by snow, alone moved forwards towards us. As the snow thinned before him, I saw a young man, or perhaps not a young man. His skin was a little too off-white, his eyes a little to black, and his smile too devilish. All in all, he gave the impression of being even less human than the gigantic brutes, even before he began to talk.

"Well, well, well, Teeko, look who we have here," his voice was high pitched and as devilish as his smile, "more playthings for my collection. What a…"

His voice faded from my mind as a new voice replaced it, talking to Aqualad and me through the now familiar psychic link. _What's happening down there?_ Asked Miss Martian in a worried voice, _was that Klarion?_

_Indeed,_ replied Aqualad,_ he is confronting us as we speak. He has close to thirty Shadows with him, as well as Mammoth, Blockbuster and Icicle Jr. No sign of Psimon, but even without him, I fear Min and I are outmatched._

_I wouldn't worry about-" _began Miss Martian, but at that exact moment, as if by design, the ice seemed shift beneath my feet in a sudden, violent jerk as a low boom echoed through the air. It came from below, from beneath the ice. I smiled.

_We won't be outmatched for long._ I said, almost laughing while I said it.

_What do you-" _Robin was cut off by another boom, this one louder and with much greater force. The young man who was not a man, Klarion, I assumed, frowned and glanced behind him, not worried, but merely curious as to the source of the disruptance of his fun.

_What's going on down there? _Asked Robin urgently, and then, _we're coming in to get you. At least we can use this as a distraction._

_No,_ I said, and there was another boom, this one louder and even more powerful than the last. They were coming faster, now, too. I was lifted by elation, floating in a cloud of hope. I could barely believe what was happening. _There's no need anymore. Stay out of sight, Aqualad and I will be along shortly._ I looked at the crumpled figure that lay a few steps away from me._ And we'll have company._

Robin was not convinced. _Aqualad?_ He asked.

The dark skinned boy looked at me, and I couldn't keep my now silly grin from widening. His eyes drilled into the back of my skull- not accusing, not harsh, just… intense. My grin faltered. Maybe I couldn't be sure…

Just as Aqualad was about to speak, there was another boom. And then an explosion. I couldn't see it, but I heard it, louder and closer than anything before it. Shockwaves crashed through the ice, and the thirty or so assassins surrounding us we're toppled off their feet, Aqualad and I along with them. Strangely, only Klarion was untouched, his features now twisted with rage and completely inhuman. He looked straight at me with a burning hatred, and a bony finger pointed at my chest as he screeched at his minions. "Attack! Get them you imbeciles!" He followed up his own orders with an unleashing of crackling energy aimed at where I lay.

Snow hardened under my limbs as I pushed off and just narrowly avoided incineration. Landing on my feet, my hands clenched into fists and I punched towards Klarion in a succession of rapid jabs, shooting a series of fireballs at him. He waved his hand dismissively, and before my eyes my fireballs dissipated into nothing even as they flew towards their target. And just like that, the sorcerer- for sorcerer he must be; what had Aqualad called him? A Witch-Boy?- was in an instant all creepy smiles once more.

"You have been a bad little pretty," he leered at me, "I like my playthings to have a little fight in them."

I narrowed my eyes. This Witch-Boy, whatever he was, was obviously in charge. In charge of the assassins, of the monstrosities, and it seemed of the one crumpled in a heap behind me. Now he hinted ownership of myself, possibly involvement in my capture and captivity. What did he know? What could he tell me?

The sounds of a fight were going on behind me. I risked a glance back. Aqualad was surrounded by a dozen assassins plus the one called Icicle Jr., but at his side fought the rest of the Team. They were outnumbered, but holding their ground. Of course, I was the one confronting the big bad.

I turned back to Klarion, who smirked at me, no doubt waiting for my next futile attempt at an offensive. Well, I wasn't nearly through my bag of tricks. I didn't attack, though. I waited.

Klarion became increasingly impatient, and anger once again sharpened his features. An attack was imminent, and I did not know that I could block anything he shot at me, or even survive it. But there was a chance, just a chance, if only…

Klarion's hand came up, red lightning appearing on his fingertips. My arms came towards my body, my hands pushing down. Beneath me, the ice cracked and crumbled. The energy around Klarion's hand solidified and seemed almost to pause, as if Klarion was still giving me a chance to act, just to see what I would do. Then it shot out towards me, a ray of immolation that gave off no heat.

I shoved my hands down towards the ice, pushing at it with my bending. The ground I stood on fell away as though it had never been, and as the red projectile reached where I had been standing, I fell into the hole I had made, letting the beam of energy pass harmlessly over my head.

Quickly adjusting, I burrowed deeper into the snow, moving down and slightly to the side. I moved rapidly through the snow, blind but with a good sense of where I was heading. This was a technique I had practiced many times in training, both with Waterbending in the North Pole and with Earthbending in the Earth Kingdom. I was under the surface of the ice for only a few seconds, but in that time I traveled a hundred spans or so. When I felt I had gone far enough, I stopped burrowing and punched upwards, at the same time pushing off the snow beneath my feet. I was well below the surface, but I shot through the snow and out of the ground like it was nothing. It was an advanced technique, but not terribly difficult for me.

Up above the ground, Klarion stood snarling in the snow, perhaps a hundred feet away and with his back to me. I had managed to get behind him. Good.

Once again, I didn't attack, didn't approach him. The time for that was coming. Instead, I turned, Bending the snow beneath my feet, and sped off in the opposite direction. I could almost feel him turn around behind me, raising his hand, pure, destructive energy solidifying in his palm. It was now or never.

Once again, I pursed my lips, blowing hot air through their chapped and cracked gap. I whistled, a long, low note, and even as I did so I could feel the energy leave Klarion's fingertips. I whistled, and bent my knees, getting myself low to the ground. Snow hardened and turned to ice, and the surface beneath my feet gave way somewhat, receding in on itself almost elastically. Then my hands came down hard, and all around me snow shot up, was propelled up by an immense force that took me with it.

I flew up through through the air, hurtling high above the ground as the beam of energy blasted its way straight through where I had been moments before. And still that one low note shrieked its way past my lips, seeming to be swallowed by the air and snow even as it left my mouth, yet I knew the one it was intended for would hear. Hear, and heed. In the end, she always answered the call.

Even as the sharp, high-pitched shrill faded from my hearing, I was jarred, in mid-air, by a deafening roar, close and directly in front of me. The cry was so loud that I actually saw the snow around me quiver in the midst of its furious fall. And from the pure white darkness of oblivion, a huge shape materialized in front of me, long and serpentine and riding on massive wings of burnished gold. It flashed by me to my left, moving so fast that I barely could tell that it was ever there. And then she was gone, leaving in her wake flurries of snow flying every which way, seeming to defy the laws of reality for several moments of chaos before they inevitably settled out again and it was as if she had truly never been there. But I had seen her, and I knew.

Nuwei.

As I reached the height of my ascent, as I was suspended for a moment in nothingness perpetuated by the seamless vision of white I saw all around me, I gave a full throated laugh of pure delight. It seemed as though I had not laughed in a long time, in too long. A criminal thing, to not be able to laugh. So good to laugh, to be able to laugh. In my exhilaration, my ecstasy, I even started my dive down by turning myself, not forwards, as was prudent and practical, but backwards, letting myself for the first time enjoy the thrill of the adventure I was on. I flipped myself in midair, heels kicking up I a practiced motion. Oh, how I loved to preform this trick at home! And now I could do it here, and enjoy it. With Nuwei.

And with that thought, I began to fall, like before in the beginning of this mission, from the the Bioship. I controlled my flight down, letting myself enjoy the ride but not to the point that I lost control of my descent. Like before, the wind and snow and ice whipped at my face and numbed my body, but this time I barely felt it, barely noticed it. My pulse raced, from the exertion, from the excitement, from the pure exhilaration I felt. I watched the ground hurtle towards me with glee, not making any move to slow or stop my fall. Instead, I counted down in my head, slow steady beats at odds with the hectic pace of my adventure. Three... Two... One...

And there she was. A long, slender body materializing from nowhere just below me, her warm scales only inches from my hands and yet those inches were very distinct in their existence. We flew together, fell together towards the ground, separate but as one. And just a split second before we plummeted into the rock-solid surface of the ice below, Nuwei's wings unfurled, catching the air and the wind and stopping her descent. Even as she did so, I closed the gap between her and I, finding those tiny crevices in her scales and spines and holding myself to her back as she came within inches of the ground, pulling out her dive with a master's skill and flying low just above the surface of the ice before she soared up into the sky, her mighty wings carrying us up, up into the clouds and high above the bizarre world that had held us apart.

I clung to Nuwei's back as we climbed altitude, laughing and completely heedless of the temperatures dropping even further the higher we flew. I hugged myself to her and laughed hysterically. Then we broke through the dense cloud cover and soared into a brilliantly clear sky, a sunless sky and still dark, but with a myriad of tiny diamonds above us that twinkled of hopes and dreams.

"I missed you, girl," I murmured into her back. "I missed you so much." Deep in her flanks, Nuwei rumbled agreement, and content.

But there was no time for serenity, not now. I sat up straight on Nuwei's back. Aqualad and the Team were still down there, fight monsters and assassins and Klarion now, too. I had to help, had to help all of us get away. I looked behind me. At that moment, I was riding Nuwei barebacked, which would make it impossible for me to do anything but hold on for dear life should Nuwei go any faster than she was right now, and right now she was making lazy circles over where we had broken the cloud cover. Incredibly, Nuwei's saddle was still secured just behind where I sat now, just as I had left it. I suppose no one had been able to get near enough to Nuwei to remove it. I smiled proudly at the thought.

Working quickly, I scooted myself back into the saddle, securing myself as best I could with the safety straps attached. It was not the first time I had had to put them on in midair, but it was the first time in a real-life battle situation. There, that would have to do. My friends needed me.

With my knees, I signaled Nuwei into a swifter flight, widening the loop we had been flying and increasing speed. I signaled again, and Nuwei angled herself upwards just a hair, gaining just enough altitude to make a small arc in our trajectory, an arc that pointed us downwards right into the center point of the circle we had been flying, and into a dive.

I kept low to the saddle, shielding myself from the blinding wind with Nuwei's flank. In my head, elation and joy turned to focus, and with focus came rage. Rage at those who had imprisoned me, captured my dragon, kept us apart, who had brainwashed my friend. The one called Klarion, he would pay. He and his allies and his minions. He thought he knew me, knew my strength, and thought it inferior. He knew nothing of me! He had no idea what I was capable of, but he would find out. He would learn the full strength of my rage, and then never again would he harm my friends.

The battle came into view. Aqualad and his Team were in a tight formation, surrounded by enemies, about to be overrun but still holding off every attack valiantly. Some part of my heart that already belonged to this strange society burst with pride to see their courage and valor, even against impossible odds. Well, not impossible any longer. My index and middle fingers on both hands straightened as the rest of both my hands clenched into fists. With these fingers, I traced jerky circles in the air before me. They would pay.

Brief pressure from my knees, and as Nuwei leveled out of her dive she gave a ear-splitting roar that turned every head below me. I had eyes only for one figure, though- the pasty, not-quite-human man whose face I saw as nothing short of demonic. He would BURN!

My fingers' patterns in the air became stiffer, and on my finger tips electricity crackled. Pure energy, not like the corrupted dark magic that the sorcerer summoned, but true Lightning. The Lightning grew in strength and power as I felt my internal energies, the yin and the yang, separated necessarily for the generation of Lightning, come crashing back together. With my knees, I took Nuwei into a slow spiral, rotating me around so for a single instant I was beneath her, with a clear shot at Klarion. My hands came out, my fingertips trailing cold-blooded power behind them, and then in. For a moment, just a moment, I paused in this position, watching as Klarion's own hand came up, his own energy projectile materializing, aimed at me, in arrogance aimed to destroy me.

My hands came out together, two bolts of power blasting out from my fingertips even as Klarion launched his own attack. Blue energy exploded into red, and Klarion's projectile was eviscerated, my own Lightning ripping through his as if were nothing, shooting past it to hit Klarion with the full force of my wrath.

Klarion screamed, an inhuman cry of all too human agony, and he fell limp to the snow. Below, heroes and villains alike stared up at me in astonishment, for the moment forgetting their own personal fights. But then that moment was over, and Nuwei shot over and past the group just as Robin recovered and knocked out an assassin he had been grappling with. And then, of course, the battle resumed. Or perhaps not. As I circled back, I saw more figures scattering in every direction than standing their ground. It seemed that without their master to give them courage, these monsters and trained killers were nothing more than cowards. Or perhaps they knew when a battle had been lost. Either way, I wasn't done with them.

Urging Nuwei on towards the largest remaining group of enemies, I Bent Air and Water, freezing what moisture in the air wasn't already frozen and using it to create a frozen gale that formed its own miniature blizzard in my wake. With another signal to Nuwei, the dragon's maw opened and a torrent of Fire rushed out. It was a paradoxical and effective combination, a column of Fire followed by wall of Ice and Air. Aiming right at the two hulking beasts, I watched grimly as they vainly tried to avoid the torrent of Fire that moments later engulfed them. If everything I had seen before was any indicator, they would live. It still wouldn't be pleasant, though. As I passed overhead, the pair emerged from the stream of Fire and immediately were hit with the icy gale I had summoned. Already weakened from the Fire, they were knocked down into the snow and frozen where they lay, becoming as much a part of the terrain as the snow itself.

Lifting Nuwei up out of her attack, and ceasing her stream of Fire as she did so, I brought my arms out and back, and with them I held the blizzard at bay for just a moment before my arms came forward and the gale blasted into a wide arc that knocked down every fleeing assassin it came into contact with. And I hit just about all of them.

And then that was that. A few stragglers ran off into the flurries of snow, but they were a broken few. The rest lay scattered about in a disorganized array, defeated and out cold. I circled around and landed Nuwei just in front of the still staring Team. For a moment I just sat in my saddle, and they stood before me, and we simply stared at each other. Shock filled their faces, shock and disbelief and... wariness. Above all else, their faces held the guarded looks of those not sure what they were faced with and not sure whether they would have to fight with it or against it. I couldn't blame them, but I feigned ignorance all the same.

"What?" I asked as innocently as I could muster. Several of them seemed to shake themselves out of contemplation, or perhaps worry, and Aqualad stepped forward as though to speak, but then-

A rasping laugh came from behind me. I twisted around to look, and saw Klarion pushing himself up with his hands, seemingly unable to stand but otherwise with no visible injuries. "You think you have won?" he spat, "You little brats have no idea what you are messing with. You will all die, but you, my little pretty, you I will dissect like a badgerfrog!" He smiled evilly as I started at the mention of an animal native to my home world.

"How-" I began, but he cut me off. "No questions!" he screeched. "I will be seeing you real soon." He raised his hand, then half drew it back in a mocking gesture. "Oh, and I will be taking my other little pretty back now, too, thank you very much!"

"Your other..." I began, and then horror filled me. My head whipped around, and I fumbled at my safety restraints, knowing it was futile but unable to stop myself. I looked desperately around, and a flash of light caught my eye. The crumpled figure in the snow, a short way off from where the Team still stood, was being engulfed by solid red light. "No!" I screamed, "Jakko!"

But the figure was already gone, the magic portal that had consumed him winking out of existence. With a shriek of anguished rage I brought my hand around, Lightning forming at my fingertips and arching towards where Klarion lay. But even as I watched, Klarion was swallowed up by another portal, and when the Lightning hit, it hit only snow. All I was left with was the sound of Klarion's deranged laugh echoing in my head. I knew if I looked up, that I would find that every enemy soldier that I had taken down would be gone, too. Lost.

Slowly, I closed my eyes, squeezed them tight and straightened from my held pose. Then I turned my head to look at the Team, everyone of them still staring at me uselessly. I took a deep, calming breath, and when I spoke, my voice was as cold and emotionless as the terrain we stood upon.

"There is no reason to stay further," I intoned, "we should leave now."

Later, after we had been flying for a few hours in silence, Kaldur's voice came to me over the psychic link. _Who was he?_ He asked.

I didn't reply immediately. _He was my friend._ I said at last. _His name was Jakko. He was my Waterbending Master._

They would all burn.


	9. Investigations

**Again, sorry for the wait. This chapter is turning out to be as long as the last one. It's also not done yet. I repeat, THIS CHAPTER IS NOT FINISHED. There, hopefully even if you glossed over this part you at least got that much. It is actually half-way done, but half-way done is over 5,000 words, so I thought I'd publish the first half now. If the rest of the chapters in this story turn out this long, then I'll subdivide them and publish them at intervals like I'm doing for this one. You might ask why I don't just make parts 1 & 2 into two chapters. Well, like I said last chapter, there are 27 planned chapters total in this story, and all the chapters are organized into trilogies. This helps me organize my story and make sure all the plot and character progressions are going according to schedule. To make up for the long wait this time, I will share with you the overviews of each trilogy in the first half of this story.**

**The first trilogy was "Orientations," and it took place in New Cadmus. **

**The second trilogy took place in the Cave while Min was still getting acclimated with the new world she was in. **

**The two most recent chapters and the next one is the trilogy in which Min goes on missions with the Team. **

**The trilogy after that will be Min hanging out and having fun at the Cave and around Happy Harbor, with the focus being on characterization and Min and Kaldur's relationship. **

**Then we having the climatic middle trilogy of the story, named "Transitioning," which will be divided into three parts like "Orientations." There we will see the focus of the story shift from Earth-16 to the world of Avatar.**

**Right, so when I finish this chapter I will post the second half of it right below the first half. I will write "Updated" at the top of this chapter in all caps when that happens.**

I inhaled deeply, and then exhaled. My eyes were closed, and I was in a sitting position, my legs crossed and my hands on my knees. I took another deep, calming breath, letting my mind and my body relax, but not wander. Never wander, never lose focus. The Airbenders had tried to make me accept all their meditation techniques, but while I excelled at meditation, I did so with my own version of the practice. At some point in my Airbending training, I simply pretended to do as the others did during meditation sessions; I closed my eyes and deepened my breaths like all the other apprentices, but I never for a second let my mind wander like they did. They let their minds and their spirits go free as a way of attaining enlightenment; I focused my mind and my senses in order to sharpen my wits. No observer would be able to see a difference between myself and an Airbender should we meditate side by side, but the difference inside our minds would be enormous.

I meditated, and as I did so I carefully began to quicken my pulse, increasing my heart rate but slowly and with precision. It took minutes, long minutes with no little effort, but beat by beat I could feel my heart pump faster at a controlled, steady rate. I didn't let my body temperature rise, though. I had been working on that, every day for the past week, and I was getting better at it. Now, only when my heart raced so fast that it would seem as though it was going to beat out of my chest did I lose control.

There, that was sufficient. My chest seemed to vibrate with the thud-thud of my heart beating against my rib cage, but even now I had complete mastery over my body. My heart raced, but my temperature stayed level, and not a drop of sweat fell from my brow. Then, just as slowly as with my heart rate, I let my body temperature rise. Degree by degree, my face flushed, my eyelids fluttered, and beads of sweat began to trickle down my back. At first it was slow work, but as my temperature rose so did the pace of its rising. I wasn't quite in danger of losing control, but the higher my temperature rose the harder it was to keep from rising more, and faster. The beads of sweat grew bigger and more frequent as I approached my limit, and the pace of my progress slowed somewhat, but didn't stop. I was still clearheaded, still under control. I felt sure that I was very near to the point at which I had lost control before, but I experienced no ill effects. I was getting stronger, better able to withstand higher temperatures, and all within the last seven days.

Then I felt it, a twinge. It was small, almost unnoticeable, but I immediately reigned myself in hard. I was in control. I took a couple deep breaths, waited a few moments, just to be sure that I could keep my cool, so to speak. When I was sure, I stood in one fluid motion, and opened my eyes.

A full panoramic view greeted me, a crisp, steady wind blowing back my hair. To anyone else that wind would carry hints of autumn chill, but with my pulse roaring in my ears I could barely feel it. I focused my eyes on the ground below me, the small, almost circular patch of rock that fell away abruptly a pace in every direction. I was at the summit of a small mountain, Mount Justice to be exact. That's what the Team and the League called the Team's base. When they had given me the tour on my first day after our Antarctic expedition, I had immediately singled out the top of the mountain as the single most secluded spot available. For seven days, the Team had had no idea where I went off to for an hour or two every day. The first time I had come back, they were in a near panic, though whether it was over worry for me or worry for what I might do, I couldn't tell. I had told them I had gone swimming. It wasn't a lie.

I breathed deeply once more, but this time for the scent of the air, for the pure exhilaration of my circumstance. I allowed myself a moment, a single moment, to take in the spectacular, unobstructed view. My eyes followed the contours of the beach, of the docks and the docile little town on my right, of the sparkling blue waters of the bay on my left. The trees were still the healthy green of summer, holding back the first creeping fingers of fall with their hardy vivaciousness. Then the moment passed and I took a Bending stance, Earthbending this time. The day before it had been a Waterbending stance, and the day before that Airbending. I began moving through a series of basic Earthbending moves, moves that I had learned on my own even before I went to study with Master Kich. While my body went through motions practiced to the point of permanent commitment to muscle memory, my mind focused like a razor on my internal temperature, carefully keeping it at the same high level.

I completed the form and transitioned smoothly to the next, a slightly more advanced move set but still one that I had mastered before I began my official training in the element. As I did so, though, I forced my body temperature to drop very slightly, no more than a degree. I had to force it; at this level of heat generation my body no longer always did as I wanted, and I had found that consciously lowering my internal temperature was like wrestling an angry catgator, and it only got worse the farther my temperature dropped. Through pure force of will I kept my temperature level for the rest of the form, but I was sweating more now than I ever had when it had been rising. I moved on to the next form, again slightly harder than the last. Another temperature drop, larger this time. My movements were no longer smooth; in fact I floundered the simple move set more than I got it right. All I could do was grit my teeth and press forward. Before I was done with the form, I forced my temperature to drop again, and nearly gasped with the effort.

Moving my limbs was not becoming more difficult, rather I was less and less aware that I possessed any limbs at all and that they were indeed moving. A leaden numbness was spreading across my body, starting at my fingers and my toes and rapidly moving up my limbs to my body. All of my focus was concentrated on lowering my temperature, and as the task became increasingly strenuous my awareness of everything else faded. There was a point, a hump, at which the difficulty of lowering my body temperature would be at its greatest, and afterwards it would simply be a matter of letting go. I knew this, could feel it. I just didn't know how far I was from it, how close I was, when I would reach it. I was barely aware of the strain the exercise was having on my body, of my limbs flailing, still in some semblance of a now fairly advanced Earthbending form. I could no longer feel anything, not the strain, not the wind on my face, the sweat on my brow. It simply felt as though my progress was being increasingly hampered by… something. Like I was moving through molasses that thickened with every step. I could continue this until I fell over dead, and I wouldn't know it until my heart gave out.

My body continued to move, directed by muscles that worked of their own accord. In the end, it was this that saved my life. My foot came down, and my ankle gave way. I collapsed on the ground, and with my body, my mind slipped and my concentration failed. Like a spring, my internal temperature snapped back to the level it had been before I had lowered it, and kept rising. Waves of nausea rolled over me as my body neared its critical point. Now I fought oblivion, fought it off as I clutched at consciousness, knowing that if I fell I may never wake up. I was on my hands and knees, very aware of the tremors that wracked my body and the sweat that drenched it. Desperately I held back the waves of heat that threatened to consume me, literally consume me, and held on to the last vestiges of thought that drifted across my mind. _I shouldn't have done this_, I thought. _This is too dangerous; I knew it was too dangerous. I knew, and I did it anyway. Why did I do this? What am I doing?_

It took minutes, long minutes, much longer than it had taken to raise my temperature, before I was able to do anything but hold myself up on my hands and knees and pant. Slowly, my vision cleared as my temperature drifted down to normal levels. Finally, I pushed myself up out of my kneeling position and collapsed on my back, lying there completely drained. At least it wasn't as bad as it had been a week ago. My strength was already starting to return; only a week ago, this exercise had left me near comatose after my first temperature drop. The first time I had tried this, I had emptied my stomach on my first attempt to lower my body temperature, and on my second I had fainted dead away. It had taken me four hours to regain consciousness, and when I did I found myself lying in a pool of my own sweat and vomit. So yes, I had gone swimming that day. The Team was already worried sick when I finally made it back into the Cave, and they went into an uproar as I took one step and would have collapsed if Nuwei hadn't caught me. I told them I had been out swimming too far and was caught in a riptide. Luckily for me, I had had my Waterbending to get me to dry land, but it had taken me three hours. I don't think they completely bought it, but only Robin narrowed his eyes at me.

Since then my progress had been rapid. Now, even though I still wasn't able to actually complete the exercise, the weakness that ensued lasted only a few minutes, and afterwards the only ill effect I felt was a numb weariness, and that I could shake off, or at least ignore for the sake of the Team. I was going farther every day, too. In another week, I would have this technique, not mastered, but learned to the point that it could be used in whatever situation called for it without debilitating consequences.

By now I was able to push myself to my feet and stand without the world lurching beneath me. But I didn't have to stand. Instead, I scooted myself to the edge of the summit and sat there with my feet almost dangling over the near drop-off. Once more I allowed myself a moment of respite to enjoy the view presented to me. Particularly I eyed the clear, sparkling waters of the bay, only a few hundred feet- that was the measurement system here in this world that I was learning to become accustomed to- below me, which beckoned with curling waves, inviting me and promising a cool cessation from the stresses of life. Then I looked unenviously at the steep formation of rock below me that separated me from a momentary paradise. With a sigh of resignation, I started my slow, slightly painful way down the mountain.

I moved, or rather slowed my movement, through the use of Earthbending. Putting one foot out in front of me and the other underneath my body, I slid carefully down the uneven terrain, moving around outcrops of rock and sharp pits in the mountainside. My outstretched foot dug into the rock before me and created a small mound that allowed me to keep from basically falling down the mountain. My arms I used to keep my balance and to steer around obstacles that obstructed my path. It was slow going, painfully slow, made worse by my lingering weakness, and before long it had me panting and sweating almost as badly as I had been on the summit, but with gritted teeth I kept my pace. Slowly, the waters of the bay below grew closer and closer until I imagined I could feel the salty spray on my sweat-drenched brow. The sands of the beach were nearly as inviting, themselves forming a myriad of tiny waves, like velvet to the touch. Stumbling over the last rocks at the base of the mountain, I came to rest by a medium-sized boulder, leaning heavily on it for a few moments to catch my breath. _Why do I do this?_ I thought to myself as I draped myself over the rough surface of the rock. _This is becoming more trouble than it is worth._ Then grim determination washed through my limbs and forced out the weariness and the exhaustion. I stood up firmly, stood without support.

_I know why I do this,_ I thought to myself. _I know why this is necessary. Never again. Never again can I lose control. There's too much at stake now._ With that thought I willed my feet to move, to carry me to the water. I didn't even bother to shed my clothing as I stepped into the cool, blue waters. Once I was submerged up to my chest, however, I could not but help let out a sigh of luxury as I allowed myself to float on the smooth waves and let them wash away my toils. I stayed like that for several minutes, floating on the waves completely at ease, just staring up at the cloudless sky. But reality couldn't wait forever. I must have been gone several hours, which meant it was past time to be getting back to the cave. Right now, the prospect of sprawling out on the couch and watching TV- just one of many incredible technologies that this world possessed- was looking exceedingly appealing.

Submerging myself completely under the waves, I let myself sink down a few feet before stopping all the currents around me with my arms, preparing to propel myself forward towards the shoreline. My limbs floated out in four different directions, and the water all around me slowed to a near standstill. Then my arms and my legs came together in one mighty heave, and I rocketed forward through the water as fast as Nuwei could fly. I was farther from the shore than I had expected; it would seem that while I was floating on the waves a current had picked me up and carried me almost a mile off shore. The distance proved to be no challenge as the shore rapidly grew larger and in under a minute I was stepping out of the water. Walking onto the beach, I drew the water from my clothes with an absentminded wave of my hand. Usually at this time I would be evaluating my progress and determining what strides had to be made next time, but now I found myself wondering what was on TV at the moment. I hoped one of the serial dramas that Wally watched would be; he had introduced me to a few and they had proved to be intriguing.

I was still thinking about television when I entered the cave, coming in through the back entrance- a rectangular piece of ground that fell inwards revealing a secret tunnel going into the base of the mountain- and proceeding to the main hall-type area: the mission room. Immediately as I stepped into the open space, a great golden shape swooped down from the ceiling and landed before me with a low boom. Nuwei nuzzled under my arm worriedly, pushing her flat snout into my chest and snuffling at my face. I laughed softly as I hugged her head, stroking the top of her skull and only leaning on her a little. Nuwei always seemed to know when I pushed myself too far, and she always came to check on me later. No matter what I did I could never fool her; sometimes she would find me even as I was preforming whatever exercise was putting a strain on my body. I was just glad she hadn't blown a hole through the side of the mountain one day while I was going through my daily exercises. Patting her head, I walked on past Nuwei towards the kitchen and lounge, and she followed, actively offering her head as support for me.

At the sound of Nuwei's landing, a crimson-haired head poked out from the doorway to the kitchen. "Oh, good, you're back," said Wally, "Come on. Today's lesson in fine culture is Modern Warfare. Dos."

"What?" I asked. "Is that another TV show?"

He chuckled. "Not exactly," he said, and I could hear the mischievous twinkle in his eye. I followed him through the doorway and into the kitchen. Nuwei was too big to fit through the small opening; all she could do was shove her snout as far through as it would go and rumble distress. I patted her nose soothingly before walking into the living area, where Wally already had the gigantic TV screen set up and showing a background of various shades of gray with the words "Modern Warfare 2" written across the top.

"So?" I asked, sitting down on the couch where Wally was sprawled out and taking up half the available room, "What is this?"

"This, my barbaric, uncultured friend," he said amiably, "Is your deliverance from boredom. This is called a video game, and it-"

He stopped short at the sound of a Zeta-Tube activating in the mission room next door. I looked up with him, both of us staring through the wall of the kitchen to where the Zeta-Tubes were located on the other side. It was an automatic response, like answering a knock at the door, or a doorbell as was more common here, except half the time the Zeta-Tubes were followed up with a mission. Was there to be a mission assignment now? The sound of the Zeta-Tube was followed up by the computer voice announcing the identity of the visitor.

"_Recognized: Batman 02"_

Wally and I looked at each other, then got up. The chance of a mission had just increased to about eighty percent. But Batman wasn't the only one. Even as we stood up, I heard the other Zeta-Tube activate, and the computer voice announcing more visitors.

_"Recognized: Robin B01, Artemis B07"_

Wally- Kid Flash- turned off the TV and pulled up the mask of his costume. It was a mission. Nuwei's nose disappeared from the doorway as we walked into the kitchen. Before we reached the entrance to the mission room, Batman's voice sounded over the speaker system.

"Team, report to the mission room."

As we walked into the large hall, I saw Kaldur already in converse with Batman- where he had come from I had no idea- and Conner and M'gann walking in from another hallway, trying to be inconspicuous about adjusting their clothing. Robin and Artemis were deep in conversation as they also approached Batman and Aqualad. Of Zatanna and Rocket there was no sign.

Wally frowned at Robin and Artemis so engrossed in their conversation. I hid a smile as he walked over to them and pretended to be interested in what they were saying, in the process putting a possessive arm around Artemis's shoulders. She looked at him with a mix of amusement and irritation, and Robin quickly adopted a neutral expression. I looked away, and continued walking towards Aqualad and Batman.

Batman was speaking, and everyone fell silent as we all formed a semi-circle around him. Without pausing, he began addressing all of us. "…The seismic activity is centered almost perfectly on the compound," he was saying, "which has made it impossible for reinforcements to get close."

"I see," said Aqualad, "And you want us to come in from above in camouflage mode?"

"Hold on," Robin interjected, "Do you mind starting over for those of us just getting here?"

Both leaders looked at him, expressionless, but with the air of those irritated by an interruption. Robin met them stare for stare, just as expressionless. Then Batman turned away and a display appeared before us in the air. It was a photo, taken from high altitude, showing two perpendicular strips of road forming an "X" on the ground below, each arm at least a mile in length. On the south side of the cross, cradled by the southwest and southeast arms, were a collection of buildings and other various constructs. It was hard to tell what was what, though, because the ground there was ruptured and scarred and many of the buildings had collapsed, as if from an earthquake.

"This is the MCAS Cherry Point in North Carolina," Batman announced coldly. "Forty-five minutes ago it was hit with severe seismic activity localized approximately in a half-mile by half-mile area in the south of the airfield. Since then, every time anyone attempts to approach that area, further tremors block their path."

"So this is not natural," Robin concluded out loud, "But who is behind it? There's only one earth-mover we know of who is capable of this, and we put him out of commission a year ago."

"Are you sure?" Batman asked quietly.

"We are positive," Aqualad said firmly. "Red Volcano was disintegrated into nothing in Yellow Stone last October."

I frowned. An earth-mover? Like an Earthbender? Who was this Red Volcano? Was he related to the red, metal "android" that lived in the Cave with us, the one named Red Tornado? I still didn't fully understand the whole concept of robotics, no matter how much Wally tried to explain it to me, but I had finally figured out that Red Tornado actually could Airbend of sorts and create tornadoes. Something bubbled up in my memory, half-forgotten and through a haze. I remembered that in the mountain I had woken up in, Wally had called me a "Red." How many of these androids were there?

I must have looked as confused as I felt, because beside me Robin touched my arm reassuringly. I looked down at him in surprise. I really had to learn to control my features better. He offered me a small smile without ever really taking his attention off of Batman. Shaking my head, I tried to refocus on what the black-robed general was saying.

"…The assumed target of this attack is an advanced prototype weapon sent to the airfield for testing by Star Labs. The epicenter of the seismic activity is the compound in which the weapon is housed, and the staff members that were working on the project are all missing and are presumed to be held hostage within the compound."

"What kind of weapon is this prototype?" asked Aqualad.

"We are working on getting that information from Star Labs," said Batman, "But so far all we know is that it is still early in the testing phases of production."

Aqualad nodded. "And what of Rocket and Zatanna?"

"Rocket is on duty with Icon in Dakota City, and Zatanna is working on an assignment with Doctor Fate," replied Batman, "So the seven of you will be infiltrating the airfield while Superman, Captain Atom, and myself keep the attention of whoever is behind this."

That got my attention. "I'm coming along?" I interrupted excitedly. "As in this is my first official mission?" I had expected to have to fight for that privilege. The Team looked at me, Wally in approval, Artemis with reproach, Kaldur completely expressionless. Batman also turned his cold gaze in my direction, and I repressed the urge to shiver. "Yes," was all he said.

Suddenly I was feeling uncharacteristically self-conscious with seven pairs of eyes on me, every gaze feeling as though it might peel away my skin just to see what was underneath. "Yay," I said weakly, ready for the discussion to turn back to the mission. But the others weren't done with me.

"Are you sure she is ready for this?" asked Aqualad quietly, almost as if to keep me from hearing. As well he should, because as soon as he said it, my self-consciousness evaporated and was replaced by prickly anger. Was I ready? He still didn't understand that out of everyone in this room, with the obvious exception of Batman, I had the most training for this type of affair. I had been bread for this from birth, molded into a weapon from the time I could walk. And if he had more experience… well, what of it? I knew what I was about. I opened my mouth to say so and to give him the rough side of my tongue besides, but before I could utter a word, Batman spoke ahead of me.

"She is ready. I have been watching, and she is ready."

I swallowed what I had been about to say. Something close to shock filled my body for just a moment before I could regain control. That was as close to praise as Batman ever gave out. He had been watching me? I gave myself a mental shake, careful not to let any of it show. Of course he had been watching me; he still didn't trust me. He had to keep an eye on the mysterious girl with no identity and no home, else she might yet turn on all of them. Still, I couldn't stop the small surge of pride that swelled in my gut. It was still a complement, as good as lavish praise from anyone else.

"What about her hero identity?" asked Robin, and I was jolted back to reality. I looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" I asked. It was Wally that answered.

"Well, you can't just go out there as Min and announce your presence to the world," he said. "You have to adopt a superhero persona and put on the cape. Or don't where a cape, they're overrated anyway."

I glanced down at myself. I was wearing simple work out clothing, an all gray hoody-sweatpants combo, certainly not anything flashy like the costumes the Team and the League wore, but functional. And it did have a hood. I looked back at Batman and the rest of the Team.

"Why?" I asked. "I'm not from your world, and the Avatar does not hide behind a mask. What does it matter if my identity is revealed?"

"It matters," Batman replied coldly, "We must protect the identities of all Justice League and Team operatives. If even one of our members is unmasked, it could compromise the rest of us."

Aqualad shot a look at the dark knight; if I hadn't known better, I would have sworn it was a glare of reproach. But that couldn't be right. When he spoke, though, it was in gentle tones, as if to make up for Batman's harshness. "We did not wish to put this upon you so soon, Min, but I fear that Batman is correct. If you are to live in our world, you must blend in. For this mission today, it is not necessary that you adopt a full persona and appearance, but you will need to take steps to remain hidden from the public eye."

"Like what?" I retorted. "Like a mask? I'm not wearing a mask. You don't wear a mask. Superboy doesn't wear a mask. M'gann- well, she's a shapeshifter so I guess she doesn't really count. And besides, you do realize that most of those dopey little pieces of cloth don't actually hide your faces at all, right?" I forced myself to stop, forced the rising tide of my temper back down to a sullen simmer. The Team was still looking at me, their faces even more expressionless than before. "I'm sorry," I said, "This is your world. I understand that. What would you have me do?"

"It is all right," said Kaldur soothingly, "For now it is only necessary that you stay away from cameras and recording devices. There will certainly be news reporters at Cherry Point, but they will be far from the real conflict, so they should not be a problem. But be careful all the same."

"Understood," I said, my voice level and professional. These people were professionals, as ridiculous as that might seem, and I would match them for it stride for stride. I was a professional, too, and screw all those who thought otherwise.

"Good," said Batman, "You leave immediately. Dismissed."

Without further preamble, the Team as one turned on their heels and strode purposefully towards the hangar, where the Bioship was no doubt already prepped and ready for takeoff. Nuwei whined at me when I started to walk away with them, blocking my path with her flat head and giving me a reproachful stare. I hugged her head and whispered a few words in her ear, and she immediately perked up and made a happy sound in her throat. Then Wally shouted at me to hurry up from where most of the Team had already disappeared into the hallway, and I had to jog to catch up with them and walk nearly as fast once I did. I fell in besides Aqualad, trying to make my legs match his long stride. He glanced at me, but I forestalled him.

"So, what is this MCAS Cherry Point that we are charging off to?" I asked.

Before he could reply, an arm slung around my shoulders from my other side. "Oh, Min, my dear," said a familiar, cocky voice, "I have so much to teach you. So much wisdom to share."

I looked at Kid Flash in amusement, but inside I also felt a stab of irritation. Well, I wasn't going to let it show, especially since I could use Wally's eager puppy behavior to my advantage. "Alright then," I said in tones of mock swooning, "Impart upon me your all seeing wisdom. Where the crap are we going?"

"I'm glad you asked," Wally replied self-importantly, "Our destination is the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point..."

When Wally was sufficiently wrapped up in his own ranting, I sneaked a peak at Kaldur still striding along besides me. He was looking straight ahead, seemingly paying no attention to the two young flirts walking along with him, but in my split second glance at him I saw just a hint of a single neck muscle spasm. His jaw was clenched. I returned my attention to Wally's lecture, but my sudden smile was not because of anything he was saying. It faded almost immediately, though. There was a prickling on the back of my neck, an itch between my shoulder blades that I couldn't quite scratch. When we arrived at the Bioship and started to board, I risked a glance back. There, almost close enough to step on my heels, stood Artemis, her eyes boring holes into the back of my head.


End file.
